High on Magic
by LightofEvolution
Summary: After years of living a life as a successful doctor, Hermione is needed in the world of magic again. A dangerous drug causes dramatic problems for the magical society, and it's up to Hermione to solve them. And then there's this certain blond Auror she can't get out of her head... AU, EWE
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so here is another story of mine. It's going to be darker than "Branches" and probably a bit smuttier. Before we start with this Prologue, I want to thank MrBenzedrine, she is a brilliant writer and beta (check out Sex Ed, Bond, How to Train Your Auror 1 &2 and the cooperation with WayMay: Empire) that pays the sweetest compliments and encourages me to no end. Same goes for Syltherinvillain7: I love to discuss my ideas with her and she gave precious input to some details (I can't yet tell which :))!**

 **Disclaimer: All the wonderful characters and places aren't mine, they belong to J.K. Rowling. No profit is made with this work.**

 **Trigger warning (for the entire story): Substance abuse (alcohol, drugs), addiction and smut.**

Hermione sighed. "Okay, Mr. Billings, I'm going to explain it again: This," she held up a plant with her right hand, "Is _wild ramson_. The plant you were looking for, it tastes like garlic. This, on the other side," she showed the bald man before her another plant with her left hand, "Is _lily of the valley_. Poisonous, toxic, in other words: _bad_. They are easy mistaken for another, so the next time you want to collect wild ramson, take a botanical book with pictures with you, yes?"

The man nodded, solemnly. "I know, Dr. Granger, you already told me that last year. And the year before."

"And I haven't given up hope that you are going to listen to me once, Mr Billings!" With a mock exasperated huff, Hermione went to rant on, when the hospital speakers called out for her.

" _Dr. Granger to Accident and Emergency, Dr. Granger required!"_

Hermione said a hasty goodbye to Mr. Billings and rushed along the hospital's halls. When she was called to A&E, it meant there were toxic substances or severe neurological damages on a patient involved. Hermione Granger was one of Britain's top experts in these fields, often surprising her colleagues with unusual knowledge and facts.

She entered the room her emergency patients were usually brought to and slipped into a fresh pair of medicinal gloves.

"Jenny, what do we have here?" she addressed one of the nurses that hurried around.

"A woman in her twenties. She suddenly appeared at the backdoor of the hospital, unconscious. We called you immediately." Jenny stepped aside, giving Hermione access to the young woman on the bed. She started the examination and realised why Jenny had called for her. The dark haired patient possessed widely blown pupils, and her skin was radiating with heat. But she wasn't sweating like in a fever; instead the olive skin felt dry like sandpaper. Hermione looked at the monitors that showed the patient's vital signs.

"She shows first signs of a central anticholinergic syndrome, and has hot skin with dilated pupils. I suppose we have a case of atropine intoxication, perhaps experimentation with herbal drugs. We will try with physostigmine first."

What Hermione heard next made her stiffen in horror.

"I think a bezoar would be a better choice."

Spinning on her heel, Hermione turned around, instinctively reaching for her wand.

That wasn't its former place in her pocket. Hadn't been for years.

She looked into a face from her past. He stood there, dressed in dark slacks and a pale blue button-down shirt, leaning at the wall in an absolutely relaxed posture. His hair was still irritating platinum blond, and his eyes _still_ a scrutinizing grey, and he _still_ wore this damn, infuriating signature smirk. This man simply couldn't _not_ look handsome, could he?

"Ladies, I want you to exit this room. Leave the _gentleman_ and me alone, please." Hermione, used to giving the staff orders, controlled her voice.

"But-" Jenny started.

"Now!"

The nurses left the room, startled at Dr. Granger's unusual behaviour and strict tone.

Inside the room, Hermione breathed out slowly. Knowing the patient behind her wasn't in real danger, she demanded, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

Casually taking a bezoar out of his pocket and walking to the bed, the man held his smirk.

"I came to free you from this poor muggle existence Granger, and give you a task more worthy- even for _you_. Your talents are wasted here, and you are needed where you belong: The wizarding world you so, ungracefully, left."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm honestly surprised at how many people read/followed/favored the story so far, that makes me smile soooo much! Big thanks to my marathon-beta MrBenzedrine (she will get a mug from me, reading: Smut happens!), Slytherinvillain7 (she gave me some fantastic input concerning the drug's name for this chapter *hugs*!) and Sam Wallflower (DRAMIONE rules, Iris), she was the first reviewer *hugs again*!**

 **Disclaimer: Same as before, sadly.**

"Jesus, Malfoy! How long did you take to come up with your little speech? Did your head hurt?" Hermione's voice dripped with sarcasm. The blond man gazed unimpressed as he put the bezoar in her patient's mouth, closing it afterwards.

When the woman opened her eyes some seconds later, Hermione automatically slipped into doctor's mode and gently touched her shoulder, looking into her bright blue eyes. "Hello there. My name is Dr. Granger, and you are in a hospital. We found you unconscious, but, for now, you are okay. What is the last thing you can remember?"

The patient wanted to answer, but Malfoy was faster. "Don't bother, Granger. Trainee Meyers is fresh as the morning light, isn't she?" He winked at the young woman.

"Did I pass the test, Auror Malfoy?" she asked with big eyes.

"Test? You poisoned her with atropine as a _test_?" Hermione interjected, clearly furious, her brown curls flying as she moved her body in agitation.

"Relax. It's a standard procedure in the Auror training to experience different expositions of poisons. You can go back to headquarters now, Trainee." Trainee Meyers quietly left the room, feeling a storm coming up between the two. When she closed the door, Malfoy pulled his wand from a holster on his arm to lock and sound-proof the room.

"I'm asking again, for it seems you are too dumb to understand it the first time: What do you want from me? You can use small words, if it's easier for you."

Brown eyes clashed with grey, and, from one second to the other, Malfoy turned serious. "Do you really think I'm here on my own volition, testing an unsuspecting Trainee? If you ask me, you could happily rot in this hell hole of a hospital."

Hermione snorted, quite unladylike, but she gave a damn about that. _How dared he?_

"I'm on a mission, Granger. Shacklebolt – he's the Minister of Magic, should you have forgotten—himself sent me here to bring you back. We have a case for you."

" _We have a case for you."_ Hermione mocked in an admittedly good imitation of Draco—she had to listen to him for some years, after all. "Are you mental?—Wait. I know you are. Your entire family is!" ' _That was a bit low,'_ Hermione thought after the words had left her mouth. She breathed in sharply, fighting for control over long buried emotions and quarrels she left behind that had nothing to do with the man in front of her. He also had to reign his temper in, judging from his slightly reddened cheeks.

"Sorry, Malfoy. But seriously, why _me_? What kind of case is it that demands my immediate attention and drags me back into a society I no longer have a place in?"

Draco thought about his answer quickly and decided to drop the bigger bomb firstly.

"Potter."

Hermione blinked, unbelieving. One name and her old wounds opened again.

"Ah, I see, now you're willing to listen." Malfoy said, mistaking her shock for irritation. "There's only so much I can tell you before you commit yourself to the cause. -Potter is in a coma; has been since an unknown confrontation while working on a case three weeks ago. The healers at 's have reached a dead end with their knowledge, and they suspect it's a _muggle_ kind of disease, or poisoning, or whatever he has been hit with."

The brunette did her best to show him her cold shoulder, while shaking inwardly. "So what? Send him to a muggle hospital! I'm sure I can recommend a good one."

Draco grew impatient, the muscles in his jaw hardening. "Potter is just one reason Shacklebolt wants you involved. Four months ago, a drug started circulating in the wizarding world; highly dangerous and addictive. It's called 'Morgana's touch'. We presume it's distributed and sold by a small, but organised, ring of drug dealers—and it's the case Potter worked on when injured. It's more than probable that there's a connection." By the end of his declaration, Draco had calmed and turned professional again, his arms folded in front of his chest.

Hermione, on the other side, was still fuming. "You tell me that you essentially want me to hop back as if there hadn't been reasons I left, play doctor, solve your drug problems, and afterwards return to my meek muggle life?"

"If that's what you want to hear? Yes!" Malfoy replied.

He hadn't calculated that the scrubs-clad woman in front of him would stomp her foot on the floor and yell, "Fuck you, Malfoy! You and your whole screwed corner of the world!"

With that, Hermione turned and stormed out of the room as if he hadn't magically locked it, leaving a seething Malfoy behind.

She stormed the way back to her lab, fists still clenched, not even noticing the concerned calls from Jenny. She couldn't believe what happened—how _dare_ they? Sending Malfoy after her? Why not directly partnering him up with Ron, Ginny or Voldemort? She had problems thinking clearly, her head swirling of anger, sadness and shock. All she knew was she needed a release, preferably with lots of alcohol – against her better knowledge as a doctor—involved. She lunged her hands in the white scrubs pocket and produced a phone out of it, dialling an intern number.

"Hey Juliet, when does your shift end today? What about a girl's night out?"

When they met at the club they often frequented, they were in a group of four young doctors: Hermione, her friend Juliet (who worked in paediatrics), and Anny and Eileen (who both worked in orthopaedics). Making themselves comfortable in their usual niche, they ordered their usual first round of tequila shots.

Knowing that there had to be a reason for Hermione's spontaneous behaviour (because she was many things, but never spontaneous in her private life), Juliet asked, after drowning the first and ordering the second shot, "What bug ran over your lunch today, Miss Best-toxicologist-in-the-western-hemisphere?"

Hermione frowned at both, the question and the title. "A face from the past I'd rather forget."

"Your ex, this Ron-guy?"

Juliet and the other girls knew that Hermione had a nasty break-up with her ex-boyfriend some years ago, and that it had caused quite a split between her closest friends and her. "No, thank God it wasn't Ron. But another git I know from school, he doesn't even move in the same circles like Ron and Harry, the arrogant bastard." Hermione gulped down her third glass that magically had refilled. Unconscious magic was something that still happened to her when in a certain mood.

"A blond, handsome man?" Anny contributed to the conversation. Hermione was a bit startled.

"Yes, why?"

' _Gods, did I really admit that Draco Malfoy is a handsome specimen? Either I have to stop drinking or I should drink a lot more to forget that!'_ she thought.

"We heard some of the nurses gushing over him- he left _quite_ an impression. Isn't he the perfect candidate to end your dry spell, Hermione?" Eileen piped in, twirling one of her perfectly straight black hair around her index, referring to the long time Hermione had already just cared for her work, and, finally, noticed some weeks ago that she needed some 'physical' outlet for her stress – yoga and martial arts didn't help anymore.

"I'll forget that you mentioned that! Malfoy and I have a history: he called my awful names, and my experiences with his family are far from the best. That and he is still prejudiced, self-absorbed, arrogant—"

"—and standing directly behind you," a well-known aristocratic drawl sounded behind her shoulder.

"Malfoy!" Hermione jumped up and spun around, the fast movement causing a dizzy spell in her head, due to the amount of tequila she had in her system.

"Granger, what a pleasure to meet you again. You left so suddenly this morning. Why don't you introduce me to the lovely girls in your company?"

Hermione wanted to scream at Malfoy's perfectly aristocratic and charming behaviour, nearly sensing her friend's knees weaken at the sight of the, again, impeccably dressed man—if only they knew. Instead, she deadpanned, pointing out her friends one after the other, "My colleagues: she's married, she's engaged and she's a lesbian. Now go and take your big ego with you!" The women in question were surprised at Hermione's rude language.

"Not so fast, Dr. Granger! After you insulted the poor guy, you could at least dance with him!" Juliet (married) all but shoved Hermione at Draco. "Go dancing, have a nice evening, enjoy yourself, and send me a message when you're at home, okay?"

Draco smirked. Now Granger had either the option to throw a fit in a club, where she was known, or go and dance with him—which gave him the opportunity to confront her with his mission again. And he didn't even have to stun her!

A visibly pissed off Hermione pulled Draco to the dancefloor, where many women and men danced and had a good time in the bass-heavy rhythms, some dancing closer to each other than appropriate in public.

With a swift move, Draco had Hermione in his arms, his hands at her waist and started swaying to the music. The contact send shivers down Hermione's spine. ' _This is Malfoy! Get your act together, girl….oh I really need to get laid.'_

"Play along, Granger- you don't want to cause a scene in the public, do you?" his calm voice next to her ear sent another wave of shivers.

"Malfoy, you are an idiot. I said no, didn't I?" Against her will, Hermione started moving to the rhythm Draco's hands guided her into and rested hers on his shoulders. She couldn't very well stand like a statue on the dancefloor now, or...?

"Actually you didn't. It was more like `fuck you', but not a clear 'no' to the minister's pleading. And I'm the idiot _with the Auror badge now_!"

"That is a 'no' as clear as it gets! I won't come back!"

Draco decided to go for a different approach with the stubborn woman in front of him. He could feel the warmth of her skin with his thumbs where her top rode up over her tight jeans. Why did women in the muggle world have to wear such sexy outfits that made even Granger look appealing?

"Who of your so-called friends over there..." he spun her around with an expert move, so she now was with her back to his front, their dancing forms now blending in perfectly with the grinding pairs around them. Despite their conversational topic, both felt the excitement of the close contact they had. "-Knows that you can create flames out of nowhere, that you searched for pieces of a madman's soul, that you rode a dragon? That you killed men with simple words rolling from your lips?" he whispered, his hands pulling her flush to him.

' _Merlin, I don't know why, but this woman makes me nearly forget my professional training!'_ Draco thought to himself.

Angry and infuriated as she was, Hermione couldn't help but feel heat coil in her lower abdomen. ' _Heavens, this is Malfoy. Remember all the mean things he said to you! Keep cool!'_ she reprimanded herself. She didn't know what on Earth made her feel this in the middle of an argument with the former Slytherin.

"No, they don't. Remember the Statue of Secrecy and all?" she answered, her voice stronger than she had anticipated.

"Then they don't know you at all, little witch." Draco said, his tone bordering seductive, but not consciously so.

"I am a doctor, and, as such, it is my duty to help ill people."

"Meaning?" Draco needed confirmation.

"Meaning that I'm going to help Harry. Nothing more, nothing less. The Ministry will comply with my conditions." Hermione had to concentrate hard on her words, distracted by the influence the tequila, and the man behind her, had on her body.

"Okay, you're in." Draco sounded nearly relieved upon completing his mission. Without giving her further notice, he grabbed her hands and led her to the nearest backdoor, checked the empty alley and apparated them to a world Hermione had left heartbroken and disappointed nearly ten years ago.

Feeling the sensation of apparition around her again, Hermione simply thought.

' _Well, here goes nothing.'_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: True to MrBenzedrine as my role model, I'm going to answer the reviews etc. next time. She and Slytherinvillain7 make my day! Thanks, ladies!**

 **Disclaimer: Same old song...**

Eyes still closed and feeling sick to the bones, Hermione remembered why she hated side-along apparition. Balancing herself, she gripped the next available object with both hands - Malfoy's shirt. She breathed in and out a few times and opened her eyes. That git smirked at her, again!

"It's been too long, hasn't it?" he asked.

"Not long enough. Be happy when I don't throw up on you." The voluntary step back from her made Hermione smile a little. She saw enough bodily fluids every day to make fun of vomiting- with nobody _scourgifying_ afterwards.

She took in her environment and realised that Malfoy hadn't apparated them to the hospital, but straight into the heart of wizarding England: The Ministry of Magic; precisely, the dimly lit atrium. Normally bustling with activity, it was eerily empty at this late hour.

The wizard turned around to walk into the direction of the lifts, indicating her to follow him. "Come on, Granger. No time for a tour. Kingsley's waiting for us." Reluctantly, Hermione stepped into the lift beside him.

"He's waiting for us? How could you be so sure that I'd show up here?"

The following words were much too Slytherin for her liking. "Let's put it this way: If you hadn't followed so nicely, I would have used other… measures to convince you, probably some involving a piece of _hard-wood_."

Hermione raised her brows disbelievingly. "Ouch, Malfoy, just because I live in the muggle world doesn't mean I have no _male_ contact. That was by far the worst pick-up-line that reached my poor ears in a looong time!" The confused expression on his face was worth indicating he wanted to flirt with her- which she was confident he didn't.

"Granger, I was referring to my _wand_!"

"Oh, yeah, I know!" She underlined her words with a glance at his crotch—oh, she loved riling him up, the years hadn't changed that.

"No, really- it's hawthorn, see?" he already had his wand in his hand, wanting to show it to her as a proof, when the lift's doors opened and Hermione left it. Draco huffed, annoyed, contemplating whether the woman had, indeed, the audacity to mess with him, or if the _one_ beer he had waiting in the club for Granger to show up had been too muggle for his pureblood brain. Granger didn't need to know the Ministry had observed her communication for some days.

He overtook her in the hallway, not foregoing the chance to enter the Minister's office first. He had a reputation to uphold, after all. Draco had worked hard to redeem himself, and his family's name, in the eyes of the ministry, graduating from Auror training second only to Potter, even topping him in some classes. He still was no goody-two-shoes in private, collecting notches in his broomstick like no other, and, thanks to his close connection to the Malfoy family business his mother ruled (the Quidditch sponsoring being his favourite branch), he was still richer than the Bank of England.

Not that the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, gave a damn about his money or relationships. The tall dark-skinned man solely payed his attention to the woman he hadn't seen for years, one whom he had fought with side by side.

"Hermione! So nice to see you! You're looking good!" He embraced her tenderly, stirring a smile on her face. Quickly scanning Granger's outfit again, Draco was positive that the older man was more than right. He had to admit-only (to himself, of course) that she was downright delicious in this outfit. Perhaps, when this was all over, he could…

"You haven't aged a bit, Kingsley, I must say!" Hermione smiled at the enthusiastic greeting, but returned to business immediately.

"You know why you're here, Hermione?"

"Yes. Malfoy filled me in a bit, although the information was a bit sparse, considering I need to develop a decent treatment for the patient." Draco realised she had fallen into a professional case-analysing pattern. He knew that such a behaviour indicated avoiding more sensible topics (no surprise there). What had caused the rift between the Golden Trio ten years ago? ' _Must be something epic-or scandalous.'_

"This was necessary. You have been gone for so long, and we have to assure where your loyalties lie- I'm sure you understand." Kingsley's voice held no apology.

Hermione nodded her head. "Of course, I guess you want me to sign some kind of confidentiality agreement?"

"Exactly. That's a standard procedure for employees in the Ministry and St. Mungo's, as you will be considered as both for the time being- which means double pay, of course."

"No need to bribe me, but a nice gesture nonetheless. How to explain my absence at work? I have duties, you know." Draco rolled his eyes—ignoring the payment and focusing on duties, she still was a bloody teacher's pet.

"We've already covered that. Your hospital's management will get an official letter tomorrow, explaining that you have a confidential assignment for the government—what isn't even a lie, just a stretched truth. Anything else?"

"Sounds believable, even happens sometimes. Two conditions, Kingsley: I want my own lab, top equipment- magical _and_ muggle," the Minister nodded his approval, "And though I know it's unavoidable, I want the least amount of contact to the old bunch and the public as possible." Hermione's emphasised her point by tapping her index on the Minister's desk.

"Are you sure? It's been nine years since—"

Hermione interrupted him, "No discussion here. That, or you can go looking for another expert in neurology and toxics."

' _Woha, convinced of her status, the little witch, isn't she? But—did he say nine years? I always thought that she left ten years ago shortly after the battle. Strange.'_ Draco rubbed his chin in thought.

"If I want to keep my professionalism, it has to be this way. And the media circus and public attention, because of us three rescuing some lives, is something I've lived very well without in the last years."

Reluctantly, Kingsley affirmed Granger's demands. She signed the contract and gave specific instructions for her lab, which would be set up at the Ministry with a permanent floo-connection to the hospital. They arranged that Draco and Hermione start the investigations the next day, and the Minister handed her the medical and investigative files to prepare. She hugged Kingsley goodbye, and Draco accompanied her out, as she couldn't apparate home on her own, and he had been instilled manners, after all.

"Are we going to stop by at Ollivander's tomorrow?" Draco asked, after a thought had crossed his mind.

"No, I still have my wand at home. It's not as if I forgot I'm a witch, but I decided not to practise magic at some point." Her parents had been very unfavourable at all things magic since they had restored their memories and Hermione could understand that. She needed to re-learn some things, like using a heating instead of a fireplace, or a computer instead of parchment and quill (what was an improvement!), but after two years, she had barely used the vine wood wand anymore.

"I know I'm being rude, but Shacklebolt said you left nine years ago. I always thought you left some months after the final battle?"

"It would be suspicious if you weren't rude, Malfoy. Both is right. I left twice, firstly some time after the battle. I came back and left again. Kingsley helped me a lot with my papers, and I even made it through my NEWTs and muggle A-exams thanks to his organisational talent. I needed the latter for access to Cambridge, where I studied medicine."

Draco was intrigued. As a Slytherin, he had a talent for discovering scandals. And if a talented witch like Granger turned her back to her friends and boyfriend, it had to be something big. He decided to go for the well-used provoking approach.

"Did the Weasel stomp over your heart so hard? Did he cheat on you? The news about the breakup was all over the media, but no details, I remember."

Reaching the atrium again, Hermione turned around, her eyes filled with long forgotten anger- and something else, ' _guilt?'_

"Interested in gossip, much? I don't even know why I'm telling you this. Probably the tequila is still talking, or it's because you were nearly decent so far…" ' _and the fact that those grey eyes are quite a sight to behold- were they always so attractive?'_ It flashed through Hermione's head.

"I had to care for my parents. As you perhaps know, restoring memories takes a lot longer than erasing them. They needed me back then, and it took some more time to rekindle our relationship, simply explaining ' _I obliviated my parents to protect them' somehow wasn't enough_ ," she spoke quietly.

"So far, so good. But why did you come back and leave again without further notice? You didn't stay long, did you?" Draco prodded on, adopting a conversational tone he used when he interrogated witnesses.

"Right again. Perhaps I will tell you this story one time in the future, but for now let's leave it at that: While Ron and I broke up mutually when I went to care for my parents, things got nasty _after_ I returned." She wrung her hands at that, eyes down.

Draco knew when he had to retreat-for the moment- and winked at her.

"Nasty sounds promising, but I guess we'll need a bottle of firewhiskey to discuss that at some later point. Hold on to me."

Pleasantly surprised at Draco's un-Malfoy-ish (meaning: likable) behaviour, Hermione took his elbow and experienced the feeling of apparition for the second time this evening. Mastering the landing in an alley next to her house a bit better this time, she only hardened her grip on his arm. ' _Oh no, are those muscles? Does he have them everywhere? As an Auror, he has to be fit, hasn't he? Unholy thoughts, Hermione, bad girl!'_

Letting go as if his arm burned, Hermione fought a blush. "Uh, it's really time to go to bed for me!" She paused, wondering, "Malfoy, did the Ministry observe me? I can't remember if you have been here before or that I gave you my address…"

"I'm afraid that's not my place to tell, Granger." Malfoy answered, a bit too fast. "Let's meet at ten in the entrance hall of the hospital, okay? I should have your laboratory prepared then. And remember to bring your piece of wood!" He grinned and apparated away.

Hermione laid awake for hours that night, pondering whether she made the right decision to help Harry and see them all again, before she fell into a restless sleep. She had strange dreams of wood.

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

The doubt didn't vanish the next morning, when Hermione met Malfoy the hospital's lobby. She put her scrubs on, knowing this way she wouldn't attract attention so fast. Thankfully, Kingsley told her that the healers in St. Mungo's had decided to change the common robes to muggle clothing out of practical reasons. Her stethoscope around her neck, she very nearly felt as if she were going through her routine work, except when she looked down on herself, her wand peeked out of her pocket. She had practised some spells at home and noticed she wasn't rusty in magic, despite the years of abstinence. It was like riding a bike, swimming, ' _or sex ',_ she guessed.

Spotting Malfoy in his purple Auror robes, she acknowledged how natural he had appeared in muggle clothing the day before. ' _He could probably wear a sack, and still women would throw themselves at him. You should try it sometime-Oh, shush, grow out of it!'_ she chastised her ' _inner slut'_ -as Juliet had named this side she declared every woman possessed and needed to be channeled from time to time.

Without further greeting, Malfoy addressed her, "Your lab is prepared as you required it, we put it in the forensics part of the Auror division. If you don't mind, though, the equipment is certainly different from the other labs." He had no idea what Granger wanted to do with machines like a DNA-sequencer or a spectrophotometer, but she was an expert, and she would know.

"Good morning, sunshine! And thank you very much." Hermione said overly cheerful, even if she wasn't feeling it.

"Sorry. Good morning, sweetheart!" He answered in the same way and that evoked an honest little smile in her face. Both knew they needed to soften the fall that presumably was about to come. He led her to a room on the second floor, and asked her, his hands on the handle, "Are you ready? She-Potter is probably there, too. I can go in first." He registered that she kept her wand in a lose grip, an old habit that many veterans showed and wasn't easy to get rid of. He did that, too.

"Thanks, but I won't hide behind you." She breathed in deeply. After a nod from her, Draco opened the door. Hermione stepped in and caught a glimpse at the black haired form on the bed, when she saw someone move in the corner of her right eye.

Reflexively, she pulled her wand and directed it at the person. Ginny, she identified now. The other witch in turn poised her wand at her, and was in full rage in split seconds. "You! How dare you to poison us with your presence, wand-polishing harlot!"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Like every chapter, the biggest THANK YOU goes to MrBenzedrine, I'm currently looking up adjectives to describe how wonderful she is (and thanks to her and WayMay I hesitate every time before I type the word 'had'); and to Slytherinvillain7 (she helps me with all the ideas I throw at her and never complains). Further thanks to my loyal reviewers: Sam Wallflower (we discovered that lacking commas can create ugly threesomes-still shivering), pgoodrichboggs (red alert! abort mission! LMAO), IGOTEAMEDWARD and Vanessa85-you wanted more, you got more!; IrishPrincess1987 (I'm afraid you have to wait a bit longer for that answer), DuLce (my keyboard had problems with that name, seriously, always corrects it!) and zoesheppard (chevron eight locked!). Thanks to all who read and follow!**

 **Disclaimer: Come on...**

Malfoy analysed the display of emotions in front of him: Ginny Potter, clearly irate, about to fire a hex at Hermione Granger, who had taken up a duelling stance. As much as the private Draco wanted to order a drink and observe the cat-fight unravelling, his Auror-self wasn't keen on writing a mission report that explained the destruction of a hospital room and the injury of Potter's wife (because he was convinced Granger would have the upper hand).

He stepped between them, arms raised, but his own wand twirling between his fingers, his posture indicating that he would use his force if necessary. "Ladies, please. Lower your wands and we'll solve your little problems with words, not violence." No matter how often he used a line like this, it always sounded cliché- but, strangely, it worked in most cases.

The women directed their wands to the floor, still eying each other. But that didn't stop Ginny from being harsh. "How _dare_ you to come here, Hermione? Bathing in our misery? Haven't you betrayed everyone enough?" she spit, her blue eyes blazing.

Hermione pocketed her wand, concentrating, and gripped her stethoscope with her hands to ground herself- and to remember the reason why she came there in the first place. When her eyes fluttered open again, her voice was calm, but tense.

"Believe me, Ginny, I understand all the resentment you hold against me." The redhead snorted at that. "But I'm here to help."

"You've _helped_ Harry years ago, and look where that got us! What are you going to do this time?"

Draco explained, "Dr. Granger here is one of the best in her field in the muggle world, she is specialised in toxics and neurological damage. She may be the one to wake Potter." Hermione was thankful for his support, though she'd declared herself crazy three days ago if someone had told her she'd be Draco Malfoy thankful for _anything_.

Trusting Malfoy to have her back, Hermione turned to the bed, taking in her former best friend for the first time in nine years. He looked good, despite having his eyes firmly closed and his face pale. His black hair was as unruly as ever, though he had cut it shorter. Like Malfoy, he had filled out- that came with the work as an Auror.

Reading the chart at Harry's bed, she noticed that it magically measured blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate and other parameters. Hermione thought that this way was much easier than sticking all kinds of cables on and in a person. Wizarding medicine definitely had its perks.

She used her wand to summon some empty vials, turning to Ginny again. The witch's face still showed anger, but also signs of worry. Hermione strictly followed the bedside manner she had learned- tell the patients relatives what you're doing to take away some fears and makes cooperation easier.

"I'm going to collect some samples -hair, blood, urine, skin- using my wand now." She didn't ask for permission, simply informed. Some wand-movements later, Hermione stopped the vials and labelled the samples.

"I'm going to test them in my lab today and see if I can identify any substances that could be responsible for his state. I read the medical file and my guess is that there really is a poison at work, judging from the facts. It's important to cross-check some circumstances, though." ' _Easy, Hermione, you did this kind of interrogation thousands of times already, this one is no different.'_

"Tell me about the day Harry fell into coma, please."

Draco was impressed; Granger was the epitome of professionalism now. Seeing her work was, truly, impressing.

Hesitating, Ginny took some moments to begin to explain, "We all visited a Quidditch game- we, that is: Harry, Ron, Lavender, me and the children, our three and their two." Hermione flinched, three children in nine years. She could tell from Ginny's slightly changed figure that she had given birth, but three times? What had _she_ accomplished in those years? Hermione went through her fair share of boyfriends, trysts, and affairs, but it had never been serious enough to settle down or even discuss children. The only man she had imagined having a family with was the brother of the witch standing across from her.

"Thanks to Draco here, Harry and Ron were given access to the men's lockers rooms after the game, and they got all excited about that. The new captain, Viktor Krum, had debuted and the Cannons served Puddlemere with 230 to 70." Hermione glanced at Draco for confirmation.

"The Chudley Cannons are heavily sponsored by Malfoy Inc., and I could organise a meeting with the team and the new captain for Potter and Weasley." He shrugged his shoulders as if it was perfectly normal that a Malfoy did something friendly for the former Gryffindors.

"Viktor's playing seeker in England?" Hermione asked, taken aback. Her last meeting with Viktor had been very intense and served as her last hooray in the wizarding world. Memories of vodka and highly pleasurable sins crossed her mind for a moment.

Ginny nodded automatically, not bothering it was Hermione's question she answered. "When the both of them came back, Harry mentioned a slight stiffness in his neck, explaining that he carried Lily on his shoulder's through the game. Otherwise, he was very relaxed, almost childish. He persuaded Ron to take our children with them overnight, and we apparated home. When we arrived, Harry became quite… aroused, and we went upstairs…" Ginny paused, clearly embarrassed what she had to say next.

"Sorry, Ginny, but it is important to hear your subjective retelling of the events. Every single detail could be relevant. I'm a doctor, and, as such, I know the processes of sex. I'm not interested in the private parts for entertainment."

"Believe me, I'm aware that you once _were_ interested in them," Harry's wife countered. Draco's subconscious stored the sentence for a later conversation with Granger.

"Please, Ginny…" he urged gently.

"Yes, Draco! We had _sex,_ Hermione, okay? Dirty, wild, inhibited _sex_ , several times. We tried things we never did before. Harry was _insatiable_ and it was the _best_ we had in years, probably ever! Satisfied?"

Hermione mentally noted this information. It really was no problem for her to listen to that, and it _was_ potentially relevant. And, contrary to common belief, she was no prude.

"What happened afterwards?" she asked.

"We showered, went for it again in the shower- _twice_ \- and tucked in afterwards. Minutes later, he had some kind of seizure. First I thought it was another nightmare—he still has them on occasions. But it was much, much worse. He cramped and shook, it was horrible! I called the Healers immediately, but before they could arrive, he stopped convulsing and fell into the state he is still in today." Silent tears fell down her cheeks, and Draco felt obligated to pat her back reassuringly.

"Thank you, that's all. You did very well. I'll need some time testing and will come back when I have the first results." Ginny nodded solemnly, stepped to Harry's side, and took his hand in hers. That was Hermione's sign of dismissal, and she promptly left the room, Draco directly behind her.

For a minute, she didn't say a word. The blond Auror simply followed her. Then she suddenly stopped and hit the wall next to her with her right palm, her lips releasing a short and anguished cry. "For fuck's sake! The unforgiving…! Argh!" She counted to ten, forwards and backwards.

Draco leaned at the wall next to her, smirking. "Better?" He wanted to know, amused by the bookworm's outburst, glad that it wasn't directed at him.

"Much. Though punching someone's nose would be better!" She regained her footing and could even laugh upon Malfoy's exaggerated shiver _. 'Fantastic, now he has humour to add to his looks. Couldn't he stay the prat he was at school?'_ "Now show me this lab you arranged for my purposes."

-DHDHDHDHDH-

"Malfoy, this is bloody brilliant!" Hermione's face lit up like a child's on Christmas when she entered her new lab. He was a bit proud at the compliment and observed, with a smile, how the witch touched every shiny surface, opened everything there was to open, and nearly caressed the machines.

"You're welcome. Though I have no idea what some of those things are good for."

She giggled, a sound that caused Draco's stomach to churn in funny ways. He had never make her giggle before—cry, hex, even openly violent, but never giggle. And right now, he regretted that.

"Same goes for me. I didn't have enough time to dig deeper into the forensics of the wizarding world."

"I prepared for that." He left the lab, only to come back some seconds later, a gorgeous blonde in tow. "Granger, this is Jackie Stevens. She has proven herself so helpful to me, and I'm convinced she can help you as well."

' _Oh, I can guess how she helped you, and that didn't involve many clothes.'_ Hermione pondered, eyeing the way Jackie had her hand on Malfoy's left forearm—the one with the Dark Mark she remembered suddenly.

"Draco, don't flatter me! I feel honored to assist you, Dr. Granger." That sounded honest, Hermione decided. And she really needed the help.

"Thank you, Jackie." Okay, maybe she _wanted_ to establish a hierarchy here with addressing her by her first name. "When can we start?"

"I have some owls to send, and then I'll come back, okay?" Not waiting for Hermione's answer, Jackie turned to Draco. "Our arrangement still stands? Six o'clock p.m.?"

"Of course, I'm very much looking forward to it."

With that, the other witch left the room, not without swaying her hips invitingly. Distracted for a second, Draco wanted to resume talking to Granger—just to realise that she had taken place at the desk, and started scribbling notes on a college block (she had insisted on that, parchment was too loud).

He knew better than approach her now, sharing a library for several years with her taught him that. He could dance around naked now, she probably wouldn't notice. ' _Wonder how she'd react to that?'_ he chuckled. Grabbing one of the muggle post-its and a pen, he left her a note on the still empty board.

' _Granger,_

 _meet me to discuss the drug smuggler-case at Malfoy Manor tonight, 8:30 p.m. Don't worry, it has been renovated from top to bottom. I'll open the firewhiskey and give you access to the wards. Don't argue and give in._

 _D.M.'_

 **P.S.: I know I'm a nerd, that's why I included a Sheldon Cooper-alike-moment in the chapter and two other fandom-references in the author's note... who can find them?**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Here we go again, this chapter is a longer and smuttier one! Special thanks to my ladies on the other side of the world: MrBenzedrine (she's as nerdy as me and I adore her writing so much! Read Sex Ed - my little, little bunny, her BIG, BRILLIANT story, she's a genius!) and Syltherinvillain7 (who helped me sortig out some things considering the smut scene and helped me tons to shape it into someething I'm proud of). Review answers - next chapter!**

 **P.S. There's a line where D &H toast and I know, they're BRITISH... although I inserted something I wanna explain: In Germany we (meaning: most people I know) say it's bad luck not to look into each other's eyes while toasting, because it results in seven years of bad sex. MrBenzedrine said it's unusual in U.S. and I don't know about U.K. - but we liked it so I left it...**

When Hermione apparated next to the gates of Malfoy Manor at 8:27 PM, she could tell immediately that there had been changes on the ancient building. The former gloomy and dark stone walls now held a light grey. The path that led to the massive entrance doors was plastered with white cobblestone and framed of flower beds. Without hesitation, Hermione knocked on the door, using the old-fashioned iron knocker – an emerald eyed snake. An unmistaken tribute to the Syltherin connection. ' _The Slytherin-connection—sounds like a good book title.'_

Of course, a house-elf opened to her, blinking at her expectant. "Good evening, Miss Granger. You are here to visit Master Malfoy?"

Noticing the elf was fully clothed, Hermione answered, "Yes, I've been invited. Can you tell me where he is?" ' _Master Malfoy it is now? That means either Lucius is dead or locked away- in any case, he has stepped back as head of family.'_

The elf made an excusing gesture with its tiny hands. "Master left explicit orders not to be disturbed."

Knowing the question to lead her there would trouble the elf because of his Master's orders, she simply asked, "Then describe the way, I'm sure he is waiting for me." Memorising the elf's complicated explanation, Hermione walked along the long corridors and staircases of the Manor. ' _Look at that! It really isn't the same. So bright and inviting, almost cozy.'_ When her fingertips touched the tapestry and some wooden furniture, she noticed the high quality of the interior. ' _Didn't expect anything else of Malfoy.'_

Finally reaching the room the elf had directed her to, Hermione became aware of rustling sounds through the half-closed door. She thought nothing of it – she had been invited at a specific time, after all. She decided to enter and looked into the room.

What she saw in, what was apparently, Malfoy's bedroom made her hot and cold at the same moment. With his backside to her, Draco Malfoy proudly kneeled on his bed.

Shagging a blonde witch, doggy-style.

Hermione's first impulse was to turn away, but she simply couldn't. And perhaps didn't want to. She could see Draco in all his naked glory- and what a sight that was! She was right before; he had muscles everywhere, but not too much to appear bulky. He had the perfect pert arse, made to hold onto, and a deliciously toned back and thighs. The smooth and controlled movements his hips made tantalized Hermione: she was truly captivated at the erotic sight. And to her shame, she noticed that observing him aroused her, judging from the wetness pooling in her panties.

Draco gripped the witch's hips hard with one hand, pulling her closer. The other was further down from what Hermione could see, probably playing with the woman's breasts. That idea made her own peaks hard, rubbing against the insides of her bra and causing a delightful friction there. She loved the displayed position for this option – and the deep penetration it provided. Not to forget, depending on her state of satisfaction, the possibility to help things along by playing at her clit on her own.

And the sounds they made. The witch gave soft keening noises, clearly enjoying the pureblood's ministrations. Hermione could see that she held her bum high up in the air, her upper body resting on the mattress. Aside from the bright hair, Hermione spotted the lucky woman's hand which gripped the sheets tightly, bracing her for the powerful thrusts from behind.

Draco's sounds made Hermione rub her thighs against each other, begging for relief. The low moans and growls resonating from him were dark and dangerous—and sounded like sinful seduction in her ears, flashing her back to the evening in the club when he had whispered to her.

For a second, Hermione wanted to turn away; she was no voyeur. She firmly believed sex was a private thing that happened between two (or more) people. She nearly willed her feet to move, until- ' _Oh God, a mirror!'_ And indeed, a huge antique mirror hang on the wall, facing Malfoy. And now she saw these irresistible grey orbs staring directly at her in the reflection!

The intense and unwavering gaze fixated her, bore through her, left her exposed and raw. But she couldn't lower her eyes. Feeling heat rising everywhere in her body, she kept the eye-contact.

' _He's pure sex... I can't help it. And it shouldn't, but watching him really turns me on… and him, apparently, too.'_ Draco's movements sped up now, thrusting deeper, causing the witch around his cock to moan louder.

An especially hard thrust made Hermione suppress a moan of her own, her eyes never leaving his. She bit on her lower lip instead, the tip of her tongue carefully wetting the point afterwards. Draco seemed to like that, for he spoke for the first time, his voice husky. "Keep doing that, little witch, and I'm losing it."

' _Was he talking to me? He can't—can he?'_ Her breath came fast now and she could hear the blood rush in her ears; the forbidden fruits were always the most delicious. ' _There's only one way to find out.'_

This time, her tongue slid slowly over the entire length of her lip, leaving a wet trail. A nearly desperate "Fuck!" and his jerking moves told her what she wanted to know. ' _He was talking to me-oh!'_ Three forceful thrusts later, he fell apart, with an almost relieved tremble and a long moan, the grey irises finally closing in bliss. Shouting out the wizard's name, the woman expressed her release seconds later. Hermione noticed now that her own hands hand found their way to the apex of her thighs, inches apart from her, now dripping, centre.

"Draco, this was the best fuck we've ever had! Shit, that was fantastic!" Categorizing the voice _\- 'Jackie! Of course.'_ \- Hermione woke from her stupor. Turning around, she silently fled the Manor, not daring to look back, and apparated home. Feeling shame and guilt slowly rising, she decided that before she could face Malfoy again, she desperately needed to think of something to say and calm down—after some minutes with her familiar vibrator.

-DHDHDHDHDH-

Half an hour later, Draco stepped through Hermione's recently built fireplace, a relaxed smile on his face and a bottle of amber liquid in his hand.

She blushed immediately at the sight of him. That reminded him, in turn, how beautifully flushed she was not even an hour ago, standing in his bedroom-door. ' _And she knew exactly how to make me lose control. Damn, that was too good to be true. Does she suppress her pleasure, when she's actually having it? When she writhes in passion? How would that tongue of hers around—uhm, that will get us nowhere, boy!'_

He cleared his throat. "Come on, Granger. We had a meeting, and you left prematurely. I told you I'd open a firewhiskey. Do you really want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to have one with me?"

"Draco, do you seriously—" she started, but was interrupted.

"It's Draco now?"

She lifted her chin confidently. "Here, I thought watching you emptying yourself in Jackie Stevens would earn me that right. Silly muggleborn me."

Her words dripped of sarcasm to conceal her insecurity. They had called each other by their last names since the age of eleven, but the intimate moment they now shared made Hermione want to change that. ' _And the fact that it was his face, voice and body you fantasised twenty minutes ago while shoving the vibrator into your sopping pussy.'_ Hermione willed her ' _inner slut'_ to be quiet.

"Actually I don't mind at all. You want a fresh start here, and that is one of the ways I can help… Hermione." Though the evening made Draco think of at least 69 other options to do so.

Relieved that they both ignored the elephant in the room for the moment and somewhat calmed down, Hermione began to talk again. "Before we get to the whiskey-part, we should discuss some things concerning this drug and Harry." She waited, until Draco sat down on the smaller sofa across from her. "It's too early to confirm, because the analyses are still running—"

"Still?"

Hermione rolled her eyes upon this typical question. "This is not ' _CSI'_ or ' _Bones',_ this is real life and we have to wait for reliable data. Even magic doesn't speed things up here."

"Bones? I thought you just worked with samples like blood and hair…"

"Forget it. Anyway, I went through the reports of the consummates of Morgana's Touch, and they show a pattern: They apply the drug to the bloodstream. Some minutes afterwards, phase one starts with giddiness, slight euphoria, and a bit drowsiness. Phase two follows after approximately thirty minutes: Increased agitation, effusive enthusiasm, sometimes hallucinations, and an overwhelming sex-drive." Draco snorted at that. "What?" she asked.

"I wonder that people are so depraved that they take drugs to improve their sex-life. That surely is no option for me."

"Confident, much? I would have guessed that even _before_ the performance today, given the rumors at Hogwarts!" Oh, she really needed to control her inner slut—or let her come out and play, especially after she saw the barely visible blush on his cheeks. "Believe it or not, sex on drugs is an entirely different experience: More intense and daring," Hermione resumed.

"Speaking from experience here?" His question alone made Draco's thoughts running wild.

"Well, there was this accident while we were on a field trip with the university in South America's rainforests…but let's concentrate on the task at hand, yes?" She had absolutely no idea from where she took the boldness to bait him like that. Draco shifted uncomfortably and resisted the urge to arrange his trousers. ' _Crime is the topic. Crime! Not the naughty bits!'_ he chastised himself.

"Phase two lasts for about an hour, and then the most dangerous phase completes the trip; heightened magical abilities combined with the feeling of absolute power and lacking control for up to two hours. Am I right?"

"Yes. This is the behaviour that causes the Ministry problems. They feel like the incarnation of Voldemort or Merlin and treat themselves as such; firing curses and spells they never mastered before for lack of talent, and being destructive doing so. We usually operate in teams of four to restrain and arrest them." Draco explained.

"The sobering up sends them into a low, and the vicious circle of dependence starts anew, spiralling them deeper and deeper. Are there any numbers known?" She concluded.

"Taking into consideration that we mostly are called when they cause ruckus in public or are found in their deranged state, the dark digits are hard to estimate, but we have accounted three hundred cases of abuse with twenty victims dead so far."

"That is not as much as I'd expect with this dangerous substance. Interesting." She paused, showing him her notes. "My guess is that we're confronted with a mix of different drugs, one for every phase. I have no idea yet how the dealers make that possible, but that is the only logical explanation. One or all ingredients make it highly addictive and hard to control."

"That makes sense. Have you made progress with Potter's case?"

She frowned slightly, because she hadn't liked what she found. "I presume that he was attacked with a variation of Morgana's Touch."

"He was drugged? How?" Draco's eyes widened in surprise.

"No idea. But the reports and Ginny's narration of the day indicate that. His behaviour followed the pattern; giddy, followed by horny with the exception of phase three: Magical high. The attackers must have used an altered substance to achieve a knock-out instead. I don't think he's in an actual danger at the moment, given his coma, but that can change fast. I need a sample of Morgana's Touch to work with. The reports says all tries to analyse it were unusable because of its instability?"

"Correct. Jackie had a hard time with it so far."

Hermione gulped down the line, ' _This is not the only hard thing she handled.'_ And said instead, "That doesn't change the fact that I need a sample. Could you take me with you when you're investigating next time? That'd increase my chances considerably."

"I'll make you acquainted with my team tomorrow, and you can accompany us, okay?" He finished the work-related part of their conversation. "Are there no whiskey-glasses in this household?" Hermione smiled and started to get up, but sat down again. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned two simple glasses from the kitchen. "You remembered fast, didn't you?" Draco commented her wandless Accio.

"Magic is part of me, that never changed. But I grew up doing things without it, and somehow, as the years went by, I simply left my wand in the safe. Guess that was either naïve or arrogant of me, considering how easy it was for you to corner me. Wandless spells wouldn't have sufficed had you been a threat."

The blond snickered. "The know-it-all extraordinaire admits she might have made a mistake? Let's toast to that." He opened the bottle and poured them both a generous shot. Looking each other in the eyes (because superstitious as it was, they both didn't want to risk seven years of bad sex,) they clicked the glasses and drank.

"Boy, this is sooo good! I missed firewhiskey, honestly!" Hermione admired the liquor.

"I like it when a woman appreciates a good drink. You really aren't the innocent virgin you were dubbed as back then." Draco desperately wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

"Never was. Looking back I broke more school rules than I kept, not even mentioning all the laws I stretched generously. You want to know what happened between the Golden Trio and how Ginny fits in the mix?" He nodded to that. "I suppose you should know my side of things before you get the media version one day, or one of the others tell you. And after bottling all of it up for so long, I really need to explain myself to someone. That this someone is Draco Malfoy comes as a surprise, though." She breathed in and out deeply before she started, and he knew that she needed the moment to prepare.

"After the war, Ron and I were a couple. Partially because it was the natural development, with Harry and Ginny rekindled, and partially because we had feelings for each other. For some time, it went smoothly, and we had a stable relationship. When the world around us began to normalise, and it was time to ponder whether to go back to school or start a job, the problems started to appear. We wanted different things from life: Ron wanted an easy lifestyle and a family as soon as possible. I wanted to explore the academic way before settling down and having children. We still loved each other, no questions, but we argued more and more, and when Kingsley's team discovered my parents in Australia... it became apparent that they needed me to care for them, and acclimate them back into their own life. We decided to end it. It was a fairly normal and mutual break-up, no matter what the media said."

She braced herself with a gulp of firewhiskey before she came to the nasty parts. "Not much drama so far, as you can see. I moved back to my childhood room and guided my parents through the long process of restoring their memories, which was very draining, emotionally and magically. Before a year was nearly gone, we had restored our relationship back up again, so that they were still not happy to see me returning to the wizarding world, but made their peace with my decision. I sent a letter to Ron and Harry, announcing my coming back. Arriving at the Burrow, I expected a friendly welcome, only to find out that in the time between Harry had a chat with Ron and Ginny one evening. There was much alcohol involved and even more emotions, for it was the first anniversary of the final battle, when he boasted that he knew me better, more ' _intimately'_ than even Ron, revealing circumstances that we had decided to keep between us two alone _for a reason_." Hermione had felt utterly betrayed by Harry then.

"What circumstances?" Draco wanted to know, totally immersed in her story.

"That I had sex with Harry. More than once."

He knocked the whole drink back.

 **Dundundun! Some guessed the drama - don't flame me, I started as a Harmony shipper thousands of years ago and I simply love Draco as a ladies' man.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thans so much for the reactions to the last chapter! You are awesome! THANKS to MrBenzedrine - vot vould I do vithout vou? Zis vould be awful! And more thanks to: Syltherinvillain7 (her boys- very sweet), I was BOTW (soooo many options... wonderful!), zoesheppard (indeed - heheheh), Vanessa85 (here it is), IrishPrincess1987 (hope some are answered here), IGOTEAMEDWARD (watch out for it ;)), Sora Loves Rain, LoSeRviLLe Population FiVe, mega700201, echiprwth who wanted thanked or wanted more, Honoria Granger (I blushed at the compliment, but the grammar bonus goes to my briiliant beta), EvenNotOdd (hope you vere lucky, go you!), and Sam Wallflower (it cracks me up to read your reviews EVERY time!). Got all? Hope so.**

After he heavily sat down his glass, Draco stared at Hermione.

"Salazar's rod! You've got to be kidding me!" he spluttered.

"I'm afraid I'm not. It's complicated—and not at all. Do you know about our time on the run? That Ron left us?"

"Yes, Potter told me about that." Despite all their differences in the past, Harry and Draco worked brutally effective asul! a team. What had their Head of Department ridden to partner them up they didn't know. Perhaps it was the fun of seeing them throwing hexes in the first months. The turning point had been a mission when they got cornered by seven former Death Eaters. Fighting literally back to back for the first time had changed their relationship. Not that they talked about it. Aurors didn't talk about their feelings for their partner.

"We had to cope with the Horcrux in the locket at that time, and with Ron gone, Harry became more and more stressed. He needed a release. We were barely adults back then, and Christmas was pure horror that year. The events around it sent Harry in an all-time-low of insecurity, anger, and fear. And, in one of my books about healing magic, it read that sex is an effective stress release and has a positive influence on the level of magic." Grabbing a stray pen, she scribbled something Draco couldn't see on a post-it while talking, unfazed. "It seemed like a rational choice for me, and so I offered him to try it."

Draco was still astonished to no end. "You offered a hormonal boy a round of sex? That was like presenting yourself as the virginal sacrifice in a pagan ritual!"

To his surprise, the tips of her ears pinked. "It couldn't be, because I was _not_ a virgin anymore. He was."

Thankfully, he had refilled his glass before—so he could empty it now on a whim. With her dropping those information-bombs at him, he'd end up drunk. "Whoa, slowly know. I've got a question—"

"Fred Weasley was my first, the summer before. Not Ron, not Viktor. Yours?"

"Daphne Greengrass, my parent's Christmas soirée in sixth year." He paused. "Exactly how many of the Weasley brothers _have_ you slept with?"

She made a show of counting her fingers—one, two, three, four... Upon Draco's shocked expression, she laughed loudly. "Just kidding! Only one." That brought up more questions for him, but she continued as he refilled their glasses.

"Harry graciously accepted my offer, and we slept with each other on Boxing Day. No romance, no candles, just sex. Looking back, I can say it was an 'Acceptable' level."

Draco's lips curled into one of his characteristic smirks."To Hermione Granger, the Woman-who-deflowered-the-Chosen-One-and-graded-it!" He sat down next to her, and they both took a large gulp of the firewhiskey. Hermione had to admit that she felt quite relaxed around Draco, considering their history and their actual topic. He was witty, curious and, despite his surprise, he didn't judge her.

"It really helped him to take the edge off, and we both enjoyed it. We were friends with benefits from then on, no strings attached, until Ron came back. Knowing his temper and his jealous tendencies, we decided not to let him in." Draco couldn't help to smirk and she rewarded him with a slap on his leg. "Your perverted Slytherin mind! I didn't mean letting him in sexually like in a threesome! We didn't want to tell him because he is a prude and wouldn't have understood. Hell, he wanted to wait until we were married!"

"But that wasn't the end of your physical relationship with Potter, right?" The more he learned about her, the more his image of her reshaped. The blond wizard accepted and admired that Hermione was a woman that had sexual needs and was not too shy to give into them. Mostly at least, remembering the shame she obviously felt when she caught him in the act—and enjoyed it. But that was something he wanted to discuss on another day.

"No, it wasn't. The night before the final battle would be the last time we had sex, and it was by _far_ the most emotional. Not in a romantic sense, but in an I'm-afraid-I-will-die-tomorrow kind of way. He even told me that should he survive, he wanted to get back together with Ginny." She sipped on her drink. "We had the agreement that what happened between us _stayed_ between us."

"If the 'wand-polishing harlot' was any hint, it would have been the better alternative. But Potter couldn't keep his trap shut."

"Ginny can be very creative with her insults, and that wasn't even her best. To complete my story: When I entered the Burrow, it didn't even need thirty seconds for me to deduce that Harry had blown our cover. Ginny felt betrayed, Ron felt betrayed, the whole clan felt betrayed. And they decided, in my absence, that I was the scarlet woman who seduced the poor boys-or in Ron's case, desperately tried to. Not for one second did someone take into consideration that it had been a mutual agreement between Harry and me! In the time between the revelation and my arrival, Ron had turned to Lavender—again, and the whole merry group had closed ranks against me. That didn't stop the shouting match that ensued—which was a bit unfair for me. The interesting thing- and the icing on Ginny's cake of rage- was when Harry said: 'Hermione and I had fantastic sex, but you and me love each other'."

Draco nearly fell from the couch from laughter and bent over, holding his stomach. In fact, he was so close now that Hermione caught a whiff of his scent. He smelled warm and clean, with a layer of something distinctively male and very— _Draco. 'Really? Of course he had to smell this good… I won't ever be able to forget this.'_

"I'm going to reserve this to rub under his nose on a special opportunity! So unbelievably brainless! He practically told his girlfriend that you were much better in the sack than her—no wonder she's still pissed."

Elated from watching the, usually, so controlled man dissolve into laughter and giggles, Hermione smiled herself. After some minutes, he quieted down, feeling warm all over. He rolled up his sleeves without a second thought, only to hear Hermione gasp.

"Shit, Granger, I thought you saw that already today." He indicated his head to the Mark on his left arm, still contrasting darkly against his pale skin, and pulled his sleeve back down. Hermione stopped him with a firm grip on his wrist.

"No, I didn't see it, I was distracted by other—features of you." Keeping herself from blushing in the awkward situation, she bared his arm again. She looked at it intensely and, hesitating only for a split second, traced the outline softly with her fingers. Still without eye-contact, she whispered, "I wondered if it vanished with the years…"

"Sadly, such dark magic leaves permanent traces. But you are aware of that." His words were a statement, not a question, remembering his aunt's liking of cursed blades. She leaned back and unrolled her own left sleeve, uncovering an intricate tattoo inked into her skin on the insides of her forearm.

"I got it some months into my university life. The Glamour Charm started to itch, and I didn't want to explain the permanent word ' _mudblood_ ' to my friends."

Draco's fingers were shortly above her skin, when, finally, his gaze found hers. She discovered that his eyes were even brighter now, shining with curiosity. "May I?" When she nodded, his fingertips followed the lines and shadows of the tattoo and the spots where he could feel little irregularities caused by the scarred skin underneath. A beautiful phoenix, born from flames could be seen, taking off to a sky full of stars. Beneath it was a scripture, reading ' _luctor et ex flammis orior, per aspera ad astra'_.

"I struggle and from the flames I rise, through hardships to the stars…" he translated. Goosebumps appeared on her arm under his soft touch. "The second part is a Latin saying, the first is your own creation and leans from the mythic description of the phoenix."

Hermione was impressed and smiled. "You are really not the idiot you want others to think you are."

They still whispered, perhaps to preserve the moment. He hadn't stopped caressing her tattoo, he noticed now. From his slightly bent position over her arm, he tilted his head up and his grey eyes met hers. "It's truly beautiful artwork. And it fits you perfectly."

Captivated in his gaze's ban, a new waves of goose bumps were elicited from the skin his fingers still touched, and now they spread from her arm down her back. She deliberately pulled her bottom lip between her teeth (to test the impact under different circumstances, of course) and saw how his eyes darkened. He cleared his throat and broke the eye-contact. ' _She did the thing with her lips again- doesn't she know what that does to me?_ '

"Uh, I really got to floo back to the Manor now." Draco nearly stumbled over his words.

"The ten-o'clock-witch is waiting, I suppose?" she really tried to hold back the quip—and failed.

'"Oh, come on, Granger…. _Hermione_! Firstly, there is no ten-o'clock-witch, and secondly, it's not as if Jackie and I have a relationship. We meet, we fuck, we part ways. That's all."

"So you're more a wham-bam-thank-you-madam guy and not a wine me, dine me type?"

' _Great, Hermione, let the slut do the talking, because that always works so well…'_ she inwardly winced.

He had the audacity to smirk. "That depends entirely on my female company. I didn't bring wine here, but firewhiskey, and the dinner… I'm sure we'll find a free slot in our timetables soon. Floo over to my office in the MLE tomorrow morning at 11." With that, he stepped through the green flames and left a flabbergasted Hermione in her living room.

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

' _Aurors Malfoy and Potter'_ , a shiny plaque at the office door read. Hermione thought it still as surprise that Harry and Draco worked so in tune together. "Times are changing dramatically." she muttered before knocking at the door. The images of yesterday's events in Malfoy Manor had followed her into her dreams. Exciting, pleasurable dreams that she woke up panting from.

' _We really have to talk about whatever happened between us….eye-fucking?'_ Before she left her train of thoughts, Hermione entered the office and spotted another face from her past—albeit a welcomed one. ' _Thinking of fucking_ …'

"Viktor! So good to see you!"

The dark haired wizard turned around from his place in front of Draco's wooden desk, his lips curling into a smile. A bit more bulky than the average seeker, Viktor hadn't changed a bit in the years between their last encounter and today.

She recalled the last time she'd seen him: angry and depressed, Hermione had left the Burrow after the ugly words that fell there and apparated to Diagon Alley. Tom, the host of the Leaky Cauldron, didn't ask a single question when she booked a room with tears streaming down her face. In the confines of the establishment's best room, she had cried and ranted and cried again for two days. On the third day, she gathered the courage to go for a walk and promptly ran into Viktor. He had invited her to his expensive hotel - 'The Onyx Thunderbird'-, and she told him the basics of her self-induced misery. He comforted her _-thoroughly_. They spent the next 48 hours locked in his room, and with him, Hermione had learned many things about sex- what she liked in bed (or shower, or floor, or—basically everywhere) and didn't, where her boundaries lay—and how she overstepped them. This time with the Bulgarian Qudditch star confirmed what she had nearly forgotten in her personal drama: that, given the consent of all parties, sexuality was an important part of the human nature and nothing to be ashamed of. From then on, every bottle of vodka made her long for sex.

"Her-mi-o-ne!" Krum made a point to enunciate every syllable to get her name right, "Vot a pleasant surprise. You are back!" When the wizard enveloped her in a tight hug and draped his arm around her shoulders afterwards and pulled her into his side, she was reminded how much taller his height loomed over hers. "Malfoy, you did not tell me my pretty spitvire here vas back!"

Hermione missed the way Draco's eyes narrowed at the endearment.

"Because she wanted to keep it quiet, Krum. She's helping us with the drug problem and Potter, but you are not a member of the Auror Division and could care less about who works here."

Now, that tone was something Hermione recognised; the good old 'You better back off'-tuning Draco used at Hogwarts.

"Calm down, friend, I vas simply surprised. Sleepless night?"

Hermione could have sworn that the blond muttered, "You have no idea!" under his breath.

"Anyvays, I discussed the last orga-nisa-zional details concerning the Chudley-Cannons fundraiser Friday next veek. Vould not you like to come? The collected money vill go to the trust vor the vives and children of deadly injured Quidditch players. I am convident Malfoy could organise a zeat at my table vor you." With a kiss on her cheek that lasted a bit longer than necessary, Viktor walked out the office, and Hermione heard Draco exhaling sharply.

"A self-centered git, that one. And that's coming from _me_!" he scowled.

"Oh, he can be very primed to another's needs!" The double meaning in her voice made Draco raise his eyebrows. "Don't look at me like that. I, unlike you, don't usually kiss and tell. Or should I say- shag and tell unsuspecting visitors?" she had finally found opening line to broach the topic that burned under her nails.

He lowered his gaze to his desk. "I didn't do that on purpose. Normally, Jackie's and my meetings don't last longer than an hour. She would have left before you arrived." His voice grew more confident now, and he got up and around the desk, standing a small step away from Hermione.

"I won't say I'm sorry that you came in, because I'm not." Hermione stayed bravely where she stood, listening to her accelerated pulse. "And I'd bet a lot of money that you enjoyed watching me as much as I did being observed by you. Am I correct?"

The sound of a door thrown carelessly open saved her from giving an answer. Struggling to tear their gaze from each other, they looked at the intruder; a tall and thin man in his thirties with dirty-blond hair.

"Malfoy, we have—" the Auror stopped upon discerning Hermione. "Sorry, I didn't know you had a visitor." Draco made a dismissive hand gesture.

"It's alright, Jenkins. She is more than trustable, believe me. This is Dr. Hermione Granger, and she will help us on some occasions." Upon the name, Jenkin's eyes widened in awe for a second, but he stayed professional.

"Then she has a good timing. Georgie was spotted in Knockturn some minutes ago. If we act fast, we can snatch him and his fix before he disappears and gets himself high again."

The men swiftly left the office, ushering Hermione out in the process. On their way to the apparition exit, she got a brief summary of what was expected to happen once they apparated into Knockturn Alley. Georgie Brown was a known addict to Morgana's Touch, and the Aurors caught and arrested him quite regularly when he was in the phase of the magical high. But they hadn't been able to catch him with the substance yet. The perfect opportunity to gather a sample.

After a brief introduction to his team of four Aurors, including him, Draco took Hermione by the elbow and separated her discreetly from the group.

"Listen to me, Hermione. I want you to behave out there. Despite all the fantastic adventures you, Potter and Weasley have survived, this is not a child's game. Make it a first and do what you're told. When I say hide, you hide, and when I say apparate, you apparate. My team and I have been trained for situations like this- you haven't."

Torn between irked and amused at his pep-talk, Hermione replied, "No, I haven't. But I have been trained to fix you up, should you require-."

" _Granger_." He growled warningly.

"Okay, Malfoy. I'll behave, I promise." She raised her hands in surrender. She knew she had the tendency to be a bit too convinced of her abilities (minus her medical ones) and didn't want to endanger the mission. And-she'd never tell a soul- she found his alpha-male display attractive; it stirred reactions in her that she tried to ignore.

As it turned out, the mission went as smoothly as possible, and that made it quite boring for Hermione. The moment they stepped on the shadowy street, the Aurors spotted Georgie, who was about to enter a pub, presumably to rent one of the dirty rooms above it where he would get his fix. Miller and Emerson, the two other members of Draco's team, entered the pub from the backside, while Jenkins and Draco stepped in from the front. When Georgie discovered the Aurors, Hermione could see resignation in his eyes, and he was arrested without resistance. Draco fished a vial with a clear, watery liquid out of Georgie's pocket.

"This, my dear Dr. Granger, is a sample of Morgana's Touch. Treat it well and as fast as you can." Nodding, Hermione put a stasis-charm on the stopped container.

"What will happen to him now?" she asked, gesturing over to Georgie. He had sunken eyes and waxen skin like so many addicts Hermione had encountered. Jenkins and Emerson held a firm grip on him when they walked over to the apparition point, Miller in front of them and Draco behind them, both with their wands at the ready.

"We will take him to the Ministry, where he will be interrogated. If we're lucky, we can convince him to give us some information about the dealers- the sneaky bastards. The Head of our department will decide whether he's put into prison -because we caught him with the drug this time- or used as an informant." Hermione actually felt compassion for the man. Not because he was an addict, but because he had made doubtful decisions about his life that couldn't be so easily mended.

-DHDHDHDHDHD-

Hermione entered her lab, quite excited at the prospect of testing a sample. Just as she finished buttoning her scrubs, the one blonde floated through the door Hermione had last seen when she was enjoying her 'meeting' with a redeemed ferret _-Jackie._

"Draco sent me a memo that you might need my help, Dr. Granger?"

The answering smile on Hermione's face was forced. "Auror Malfoy underestimated my baby here." She set the sample in a grey device. "This will work much faster than a spell. We're lucky; we don't need a complicated process with the human samples from Harry." Jackie peered at the device, intrigued. Hermione really didn't like the witch (and had not yet the courage to think about the reasons for that), but she never passed up the opportunity to lecture someone.

"This is a device for a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. Basically, we probe the sample with pulses of terahertz radiation. The effect on the amplitude and phase of the radiation is measured, and the connected computer can tell me what kind of substance we have by comparing the data with those recorded. And we don't even have to pour the liquid out of the vial! It's very non-invasive, and we can put the stasis-charm back on later. We can analyse pure substances, but also mixtures. That's important, because, as I told you, my prediction is that there are at least three substances responsible for the drug's effect."

Jackie looked adequately impressed with Hermione's explanation. Some proficient moves and three quiet minutes later, she could read the results on the screen.

"Now there's a surprise. I'm not sure that this the answer we were looking for." She got up from her chair and turned to Jackie, who, apparently, couldn't understand Hermione's bewilderment.

"Take the sample out of the spectroscope and store it away safely. Put a stasis-charm on it; I want to inform Auror Malfoy." She jogged through the department, and after knocking on his door (she'd never again step into a room where she suspected Draco to be without first knocking and being allowed to enter), she stood in front of his desk again. He bore a surprised expression, not having expected results so fast.

"We identified a substance: THC! It's quite logical, given the symptoms of phase one: Giddiness, slight euphoria, problems with reminiscing. THC fits perfectly, don't you think? Studies on knock-out mice show—"

"Hermione, breath! I have no idea what you're talking about. Explain it to me, slowly…" She was so back into rambling mode he could barely contain his amusement, because she looked quite pretty like that, with her cheeks reddened and her deep brown eyes shining. ' _Must be the light.'_

"I used a simple measuring to identify one of the substances, though—doesn't matter for now. The spectroscopy showed us it's THC, _tetrahydrocannabinol_ : the chemical that causes the effects of marijuana."

That was something Draco could talk about. "Are you implying Potter fainted from a joint?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm implying."

 **A/N: No smut in here, you have to be patient. But there is some looming on the horizon...**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Ready for another chaper? Got one for you. And I know I'm repeating myself here, but: Thank you, MrBenzedrine! You are the bestestes beta one can wish for! Please awwww on and have a glass of wine for me, you make my day! Besides, I am thanking WayMay, I got the feeling she is kind of the gamma-background-reader! Further thanks to: zoesheppard (LOL!), IrishPrincess1987 (glad that you like it!), echiprwth (this is smut ;)), pgoodgrichboggs (had to look up midnight smoker - LMAO), Syltherinvillain7 (I so hope you like this!), I was BOTWP (see what I made of it. I kept the other idea for another scene...), Sam Wallflower (I always love your reviews! Can you live with this one?), meha700201 and Vanessa85 (you're absolutely welcome), EvenNotOdd (*blushes at compliment*) and the Guest from South Africa who reviewed ch. 5. It's amazing how small the world is in fanfiction and how much I learn about life in parts of it I've never been to!**

 **Disclaimer: Not mine. No profit.**

When Hermione and Draco met half an hour later to floo to 's again, the witch was grumbling under her breath. As soon she spotted her partner, she started a tirade.

"It's all your fault! The abilities of this woman between the sheets must be bloody brilliant, because I can't think of any other qualities she could possess!"

"I have to check the calendar, but it _must_ be the 'jumble-your-Slytherin'-day, because it's the second time that you puzzle me this afternoon." Draco retorted sarcastically.

Distracted (and taking pride in it) for a second that he had basically termed himself ' _her Slytherin_ ', Hermione went on. "Jackie! This sad excuse of an assistant you forced on me! She broke the container! It sat on the edge of the table, and she turned around when I came back into the lab and called for her. There was no stasis charm upon it yet, and the glass broke when her elbow brushed it down to the floor!"

Draco sympathised with her impulsive behaviour. "Couldn't you just summon it back?"

"Thank you very much- I hadn't thought of _THAT_! -But the sample is contaminated, and when I repeated the test three times, it came up with nonsense-results and different at that. We need a fresh sample." He scowled at her conclusion; now they, again, needed to focus their investigation on snatching an addict before he consummated Morgana's Touch.

In the meantime, they had arrived at the hospital, and Hermione admitted her apprehension, "What if Harry's got visitors again? It won't be good for the atmosphere if there's another argument."

"Don't worry. At this time of the day, it could only be Ginny visiting, and remember how well that went last time."

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, I am. One could have sold tickets for the show and made a fortune out of it." Despite her nervousness, she smiled at his sneaky comment, and it relaxed her considerably. Or maybe it was his reassuring hand on the small of her back, his thumb tracing little circles that distracted her. The next thing she noticed was a blur of red that pounced on the man next to her, squealing "Draco!"

He had barely time to stretch out his arms when the little girl jumped into them. "Hey firefly!" He threw her into the air, what made her giggle loudly.

Hermione felt like in an alternate universe. Draco Malfoy handled this child, which she strongly suspected was Harry's and Ginny's, like a pro. The maybe-three-year-old girl discovered her and buried her head in Draco's shoulder, suddenly shy.

He sat her down on her feet again. "It's okay, Lily. This lady here is Hermione, and she's something like a Healer." The brunette would have been amazed at his soothing voice, but her eyes were trained on Lily's mother. Ginny sat in a chair beside Harry's bed, and both women were visibly on their nerve's ends. Neither said a word. The tensioned snapped when Lily tugged at Hermione's scrubs.

"You wake my Daddy? Draco said." The child asked with a small voice. Hermione kneeled and got on Lily's level. Looking in the girl's green eyes, she schooled her voice into a tone she always used when dealing with patient's children.

"I'm doing my best, I promise. But I might need a bit of time for that, okay? Do you know what would help me a great deal?" Lily's red curls flew when she shook her head. "It would make my work a lot easier if you take Draco and get him to buy yourselves a slice of chocolate pie. He's a bit annoying sometimes, don't you think?" She smiled and winked at the girl, who pressed her chubby hands on her mouth to stifle a laugh.  
"Daddy says that, too! I help you!"

Hermione got up and walked over to Draco, where she leaned into him and whispered, "I'm going to talk to Ginny. Can you occupy her a while?"

His lips caressed the skin below her ear when he whispered back, "You owe me. And I will think about it very hard how I'm going to cash in the favour." Hermione had no control over the heat that creeped into her face.

When Draco and Lily closed the door behind them, Ginny spoke, catching her attention.

"Spill it, Hermione. What did you find out?" The younger witch looked as if she hadn't slept properly for a long time.

"I suspect Harry had contact to a variation of the drug he investigated in, including Morgana's Touch."

Ginny gasped. "He's no junkie!"

Hermione tried to stay calm. "I didn't say that. I merely stated that his system was confronted with the drug. The behaviour you described matches the pattern, with the exception of the last phase with the magical high, where he seized and fell into coma. This is why I think the substance has been altered somehow. Please bare my medical intentions in mind with the next question…" she paused until the other witch indicated her understanding with a slight tilt of her head. "Did Harry have experiences with cannabis?"

Confused, Ginny replied, "Aside from the joint George and Charlie gave around on Percy's wedding to cause some mischief years ago? No. Why are you asking?" She kept a civil tone, and Hermione appreciated that.

"Because we identified one of the components as THC, the chemical that causes the effects of cannabis-products. The thing is, the drug is applied to the bloodstream, and cannabis is mostly consummated as a smoke or in food. Ron would have noticed and reported that. In addition, the concentration of THC in the sample I examined was so high it probably would effect Harry's memory. Perhaps he noticed something odd, but couldn't remember and therefore didn't tell you."

Draco had already explained to her that it was so difficult to get to the drug dealers, because they met their clients in different places every time, and the addicts often had a hazy memory where the trading occurred. They routinely checked them for memory charms and hadn't found anything. The THC was probably responsible for the memory problems, Hermione suspected.

" Harry's samples were negative for THC, which is strange when I ran them against the drug sample, which tested positive for the substance. But I'm not done testing for other substances. And the analysis of the drug is incomplete yet -however, I need to get hold of another dose of the drug to continue. Ours was, effectively, destroyed." She received no reaction on her words from Ginny, but the woman kept staring at her husband's unmoving form. For some minutes, not a sound was heard except from the ticking of the clock on the wall. Hermione grew uncomfortable with the silence, but she didn't want to leave without Draco.

Just as she decided that she would wait for him outside the room, Ginny spoke quietly. "Do you regret it?" Hermione knew exactly what the other witch referred to.

"That I put Harry's well being over everything else and offered him a physical release? No. That I enjoyed it as much as he did? No." She could hear Ginny's sharp intake of breath over that. "What I _do_ regret are the reactions that followed our actions from you and your family's side. Sometimes, I wonder if I did the right thing by turning my back to you all and didn't try to rekindle our bonds. But I was hurt and angry, because I was punished for something I believed was right; because my best friend betrayed my trust and didn't stand up for me. And the fact nobody listen to me, but shot fast and hard at me. I was happy in the muggle world with my fresh start and felt at home there. I love my profession and how I help people. Hopefully, I can help Harry, too." Hermione saw heavy tears falling down Ginny's cheeks.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." The honesty in her voice touched Hermione deeply, and she felt tears well up in her own eyes. They both knew that the past wasn't forgiven nor forgotten, but it could be a step in the right direction.

The door opened, and Lily stormed in, jumping on her mother's lap, who hastily wiped the tears from her face. Hermione felt a warm hand falling on her shoulder, and she looked into Draco's concerned grey eyes. "Everything alright?" he asked.

"No. But perhaps it will be."

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

Hermione spent the next week enclosed in her lab, running analysis after analysis on Harry's samples. She had tested most of the wizarding world's known poisons now, which was a bit difficult, because sometimes she had to probe an example to compare her samples with. Still angry with Jackie, she sent the witch all around Britain to gather the substances. Poor girl.

Draco and his team resumed their investigations. Hermione got a drastic insight of how dangerous the magical highs really were when Miller and Emerson hastily entered her lab on Friday, half dragging, half carrying, Malfoy in their middle. Spotting that he was only half conscious, she directed them to lie him down on the examination bed she had demanded for the possibility to treat patients.

"Jesus! What happened?"

The blond murmured unintelligible words.

"He was hit on the head when one of the junkies blasted the wall behind him. We apparated Jenkins to the hospital, but this idiot here insisted he was fine. As soon as we entered our department, he fainted. When he woke up, he was like this, you see?"

Hermione started to examine Draco and controlled his pupil's reflex with a flashlight when he lifted his hands and carefully spun one of her stray curls around his index finger. His expression was similar to the one Hermione had observed at Luna Lovegood's face: dreamily and fascinated. That deepened, even, when she carefully ran her hands over his head to find a small bump on the back of it. Draco closed his eyes on the touch and purred like a cat. Desperately trying to stay professional – which was very difficult, because his hair felt unbelievably soft and the purr made her stomach do somersaults, she stood and addressed the waiting Aurors.

"He simply has a mild concussion. Leave him here,and I'll make sure he's back this afternoon. Some of the potions the healers use are very practical." Grinning at their colleague's odd behaviour, Miller and Emerson left.

"Okay, I think…. This is the right potion." Hermione rummaged through her newly stored potions cabinet. After taking a small bottle out, she bent over Draco. "Be a good boy for Hermione and swallow this, yes?" Without resistance, he opened his mouth and gulped down the offered liquid. Though he seemed to be distracted with the effort to sneak down Hermione's neckline with his hands.

"Well done, Draco. Now sleep for a bit." When she unfolded a blanket and tucked him in, he was already fast asleep. Hermione smiled at how relaxed and cute her former bane-of-existence looked this way. She sound-proofed the door with her wand to keep the sounds of the hallway at bay, dare someone wake the Auror up, and resumed her work.

When Draco awoke almost an hour later, his voice sounded deeper and rougher than usual. "Bloody Hell!" he cursed, touching his head carefully. "That hurt!"

"Pray tell. You should have given in to your colleagues and get yourself examined at the hospital. But _nooo_ , you had to play the invincible and collapse when back here." Hermione scolded him, but without malice. "Though I have to admit, you're quite cute when you're dizzy."

"I'm a Malfoy ,and, as such per definition, _not_ cute." He sounded more awake now. "Does the muggle doctor let me go back to work?"

"The muggle doctor says: Stay at home for a few days." She was amused by his half-frown reaction. "Alas, now that I learned a thing or two about wizarding medicine, I'm sure you're cured. Come back if you feel weird, okay?"

"So, I'm cleared to go to the blasted Cannon's function tonight?"

Totally engrossed in her work, Hermione very nearly had forgotten the fundraiser. And the fact that she had informed Viktor that she would come. "I'll keep an eye on you, okay?" she teased him.

Somehow, this thought excited Draco more than it relaxed him.

-DHDHDHDHDHDHDH-

Hermione knew much about the male genitals. The average size, the vessels and tissues responsible for its functionality. The nerves involved that made it hard and ready for its most basic (and joyful) use.

But this particular one that currently sprang free from the restrained position in its owner's dress pants, was truly one of evolution's finest. Though, when Hermione had begun her evening, the prospect of letting her tongue and fingers glide over the hard cock's skin, nor the grey eyes of the man connected to it, grazing in pure lust at her, had been on her schedule…

*(*)*(*)*

 _Earlier…_

 _*(*)*(*)*_

The vast room in the ' _Onyx Thunderbird_ ' was more crowded than Hermione had anticipated. On second thought, it was expected that the who's-who of the wizarding world gathered at such an opportunity to show themselves off. She straightened her midnight blue dress, which ended a handbreadth over her knees, and the highlights in the hem reflecting the festive light. Clutching her matching handbag tighter, she wanted to back out. It was much too much early to show her face in the public, she decided.

A hand cupped her naked upper arm, and she felt the now familiar shiver hunting down her spine. Without turning her head, she knew who stood next to her.

"Don't chicken out now," Draco spoke quietly. "The press isn't allowed here. Not everyone likes to read in _Witch Weekly_ how much money he donated. Though it's a shame, as you're looking quite passable tonight and would make a marvellous front page photo." Hermione instantly felt the tension in her lessen.

"Uh, thanks?" She wanted to make a teasing remark at how ridiculous he looked in his black robes. But she didn't want to lie. And ' _You look fucking delicious'_ wasn't appropriate in an area where they could be overheard.

Jackie emerged from the crowd, two glasses of dark red wine in her hands that matched the colour of her short dress. "Draco, what a coincidence! Didn't know you were coming, too. But as soon as I spotted you, I ordered your favourite Pinot Noir for us." Ignoring Hermione, the blonde leaned in to give Draco a glass and pecked him on both cheeks.

"My family practically owns this team, Jackie. I'm expected to be here. And actually, my favourite wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon." Resulting in many years of being exposed to Malfoy's moods, Hermione could detect a subtle disapproval in his posture and words.

From the corner of her eye, she could see a mop of red hair moving towards her. ' _Oh no! Ron.'_ She didn't have the energy to run. He hadn't changed much over the years. Maybe he had gained a little weight around the middle, and he wore his hair a little shorter. Now that he stopped in arm's length of her, she could determine that his eyes were still the same cornflower blue. Hermione was caught in her emotions; fear, sadness and regret bubbled in her. Neither of them spoke a word, and time seemed to stop, until Ron let out a noise between a sob and a snort and opened his arms. Without hesitation, Hermione stepped into the embrace of the man she had loved, in different ways, since her childhood.

Breathing in the well-known scent of him, she heard him whispering to her, "Hermione, I missed you." That was her final straw, and she broke out in tears, not caring who might see Draco pulling Jackie away to give them some space, she relished in the bitter-sweet feeling of Ron around her. They held each other tight for some minutes, until the tide of emotions abated a bit. Hermione leaned back, finally gathering the courage to say something.

"Ron, I'm sorry things went downhill with us."

"You won't believe me, but it's okay. I've thought about what happened back and forth for years and I realised something. We were too young to bear so much responsibility in a fight that shouldn't have been ours. And we all reacted differently to the pressure; I ran away like a coward. You suppressed your feelings by advancing everything with logic and knowledge. And Harry had his destiny thrown at him, dreading he couldn't escape. I won't say I fully understand you, Hermione. But I learned that you believed in what you did and provided Harry with a desperately needed outlet. I was hurt that you didn't trust me to handle yours and Harry's...you know, but I realised that I was a bit hot-headed in the past. Still am, when you're asking my wife." He finished his speech with a lopsided smile and Hermione felt a knot in her heart loosening.

"Who thought that you would get this mature, Ron? You have no idea how much this means to me." She hugged him again, this time smiling tentatively. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. You really are. I'll give your overactive brain time to process all, this and you'll owl me when you are ready to meet me, again?" He let her go and she nodded her approval thankfully, astonished at his sensible behaviour and felt hope spark in her heart when he walked away.

Exhausted, Hermione sat down heavily next to Viktor. "You look like you vant a drink." He grinned at her after he kissed her cheek in way of greeting. He strode over to the bar and returned not two minutes later. "I hope dis is to your liking, spitvire." Hermione grinned when she discovered the liquid in the glass he handed her – vodka. After toasting to the wizard, she knocked down the drink, gesturing for the waiter to bring them more.

The alcohol burned down her throat, and she welcomed the warm feeling it left. Settling her eyes on Viktor again, she asked, "Now that we have time to talk; what have you been up to in the last few years? I'm dying to know!" They engaged in a vivid conversation and caught up with each other's lives.

The vodka kept coming, and Hermione began to feel dizzy and elated, though fascinated by Viktor's story. They flirted heavily, and she couldn't stop laughing at his antics. He carried on the conversation, catching her up to the point where he came to England seven months ago, taking up upon the Cannon's offer to play Seeker and become their Captain. Hermione noticed how close he was now, his thighs placed on both sides of hers. Trailing the strap of her dress with one hand, and interlacing their fingers of her right hand with his, he leaned over to her.

"I booked my old room vor the night. Do you remember it?" The chaos in Hermione's head strengthened, and she suddenly felt hot all over, especially below her naval. She was about to give in the promise of a replay from their previous encounter when a hand grabbed hers and pulled her roughly up from her chair.

"Come with me, Granger!" The sudden movement tipped her vision and she nearly fell into the person's arms.

"Draco, Viktor wanted to—"

"I don't care what _Viktor_ wanted, I need your help!" Without further explanation, and ignoring the other wizard's outcry, Draco pulled her towards the exit and into the foyer, his steps fast and aggressive. Hermione did not feel threatened by his wayward behaviour, not even when he grabbed her arms and apparated them away. On the contrary, she felt very excited and turned on, not questioning his actions.

She opened her eyes and some stray thought in her confused brain told her she was in Draco's bedroom—again. Giggling at the memory of what happened the last time she was in this room, she found herself eye to eye with the man. His usually grey irises were barely visible, replaced by widely blown pupils. His jaw was clenched and he had a problem speaking articulately.

"Listen, Hermione, and listen well, before my control snaps and I have my wicked way with you." The dangerous tint in his words washed over her like a promise she wanted him to keep. "I think I was drugged with that blasted stuff. And, apparently, you too. Because I don't think this is your normal behaviour," he commented, noticing her wandering fingers over his chest down to his undeniable erection. "Focus! We need to do something!" He grabbed her wrists and pried them away from him, not sure if he was talking to her or himself.

"S-sample, there are empty v-vials..." She tried to fight the mounting desire in her, her last ounce of rationality urging her to take a blood-sample. Bending down to retrieve the objects from her handbag, Hermione heard Draco step behind her. He lunged around her waist and pulled her bum flush against him, his stiff excitement prodding against her cheeks. She straightened and he let out an almost feral sound when her backside purposely skimmed over his crotch.

"Do what you need to do, but do it fast."

With trembling hands, she used her wand to collect a sample of Draco's and her own blood. A split second after she had placed the containers on the bedside table, the handsome blond spun her around. One hand around the back of her neck and the other on her breast, he pulled her into a fierce kiss. Forcing her lips open with his tongue, their mouths collided. Hermione didn't want to stop Draco's advances- quite the opposite; she wanted to engage him further and pay him back tenfold, her desire to be skin-to-skin and arouse him burning through her veins. Her most important goal was to get this hard dick she had already touched through his trousers into her overflowing cunt.

They resumed kissing passionately, their tongues battling for dominance and teeth occasionally clashing. But Hermione didn't mind. She had never felt this all-consuming arousal before. Her hands fumbled with his robes, unbuttoning them impatiently, before she took a more direct approach and ripped the fabric. He didn't even protest, instead moaned lowly when her fingers mapped the muscles on his torso, varying in their pressure. When she reached the dark blond hairs on his lower abdomen, the last remaining rational thoughts left him, and he reached down to unbuckle his belt.

*(*)*(*)*

 _Present Time_

 _*(*)*(*)*_

In his haste to set his painfully hard member free, Draco stumbled back when he stepped out of his boxers and dress pants. He landed himself in an armchair across from his bed. Following the imperative demands of his body, he pulled Hermione on his lap with her back to his front. She groaned when his pressed demanding kisses down her neck, and his fingers opened the zipper of her dress with one hefty tug. She raised her arms as he lifted the fabric over her head, leaving her only in her knickers.

Normally Draco would have remarked the fact that she had gone braless, but, under the drug's influence, he couldn't form the words. Instead, he pulled her down on him, both hands on her lush breasts. When he started tugging on her hardened nipples, the sensation shot through Hermione like lighting, directly into her pussy. She grounded her hips against him, effectively trapping his iron-hard cock between her ass cheeks and his abdomen, his balls rubbing her soaked panties. Her hands were buried in his soft hair when he sunk his teeth into the skin over her pulse point. She gasped and nearly missed his commanding voice.

"Watch us." He shifted her body that they could see their reflection in the mirror over his bed. Later, Hermione would ask herself if it was charmed to capture their figures in the right angle. Now, she simply moaned at the presented view: Her legs were spread, one propped up on the armrest, the other tangling down outside of his strong thighs, and she could see a wet spot spreading on the fabric covering her sex. She wanted to tell him then that this was even better than the other day, when it had been another woman under his touch. But her mind was too hazy, too engrossed in the sensations of lust.

Equally incapable of speech, Draco guided her hands from their place behind his neck down her body, shoving them into her knickers. He pushed her index into her wet passage, and coated his own fingers with the slick juices along her folds. Understanding his unspoken order, she continued fingering herself, while he used the lubrication to circle the peaks of her breasts.

Hermione moaned and keened unrestrained now, her gaze transfixed on their reflection in the mirror. Inserting a second and third finger in short succession, her hips started to move, intensifying the delicious pressure in her womb. Draco's length was still trapped between them and moved by her hips, causing him to growl, demanding more. She couldn't keep the slow pace and shoved her fingers faster and faster into her. The volume of their passion-filled sounds increased and Hermione could feel that she was close. Seconds before she reached her peak, Draco pushed her forward and lifted her hips. Tearing the soaked fabric to the side, he impaled her forcefully on his cock, the impact of the sudden fullness pushing her over the edge of her orgasm.

His arms around her kept her still and detained her from riding out her high. As a result, the muscles in her pussy twitched and contracted in pleasure and pain, and she immediately knew she was ready for more, but Draco gripped her hard. He commanded his own rhythm when he started to move deep inside of her. Hermione could feel the velvet hardness in her and started moaning again, this time in a sweet concert with his own expressions of desire. With a strong grip of his hand and her neck, he repositioned her so that she leaned forward now, her hands braced on his knees. His hand remained at her neck, the other arm embracing her. He kept her close to him, her left breast bounced down on his arm with every powerful thrust of him. Draco sped up his movements and hammered into her so fast that their reflections blurred and she had to close her eyes. She felt his balls beneath her clenching and knew he would come soon. When she paid him back with a forward tilt of her pelvis, his tip touched the spongy walls in the front of her tight passage. He shouted his release then, unable to control the spasms of his cock when he spilled his seed deep in her. He rode out his orgasm, and Hermione, who was close even before he stimulated her g-spot, came zealously when she heard and felt their combined juices trickling out of her.

The passionate insanity didn't end there, but continued into the wee hours of the morning. They fucked restlessly, every orgasm leaving them long for more. Utterly spent, they fell into a dreamless sleep with their limbs entangled when the first sunrays fell through Draco's bedroom window and on the crimson evidences of their first night together on his bedside table.

 **P.S.: I hope you approve of the smut. Just want to say: Drugs are bad, okay? The can do nasty things to your brain and body and make you do things you wouldn't do sober. Hands off!**

 **The updates will slow down from now, as school starts again for me today. And I am a teacher, I somehow have to go. But don't be afraid, I have the whole plot mapped out and am desperately willing to write a chapter over the next week.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay, a bit faster than I thought and shorter than the last, but anyways! A big shout out to MrBenzedrine (there's a reference to a story of hers, who finds it?) who is so kind and encouraging and corrects the same mistakes a thousand times without complaining *hearts*! Further thanks to I was BOTW (oh, loved your ideas, read on and see what's right ;)), Sassystarbuck09 (DCT!), KnowInsight (thanks), Slytherinvillain7 (of course it was Dramione ;)), IrishPrincess1987 (thanks for approving, that means much to me!), EvenNotOdd (check out MrBenzedrine, she's the BEST!), Sam Wallflower (LMAO at every word you write! And have a nice vacation, take care!), IGOTEAMEDWARD (maybe, maybe not;)), mega700201 (you're welcome), Vanessa85 (thanks!), pgoodgrichboggs (vodka can do crazy things...and whiskey, and wine, and beer... and so interesting thoughts! hope you like the answers), Jaqueline Noir (don't fall, please;)), minniemousemom (such a sweet name), and writerspassion18 (LMAO at your reviews and PMs, you should get yourself a T-shirt: Don't Dramione and work!). I am totally flashed at your responses!**

Draco woke up to a splitting headache. He groaned, not daring to open his eyes. His mouth was dry as sandpaper, and even his skin felt uncomfortably stretched everywhere as it touched the fabric of the bedcover on his legs, stomach and shoulders.

' _Merlin, am I naked?'_ The thought of nakedness triggered a sensual memory of the night. Rough kisses, his robes torn away, the feeling of a wet and tight hole around his cock. The reminiscing was so intense that his member came to readiness in mere seconds. ' _Huh, my dick seems to remember in more details. Do penises have their own memory? Got to ask Hermione that—'_ his brain caught up, the name causing waves of images to crash over him.

"Fuck! I had _drugged sex_ with Hermione Granger!" he cursed loudly, sitting up with a start. After the room stopped spinning, he looked around -only to find that he was alone in it. Hermione was nowhere in sight, the other side of the bed cold.

' _Oh, no! She's gone.'_ A nagging feeling of dread spread in Draco. Not that he was opposed to sex with Hermione; the case was quite the opposite. She was intelligent, fierce and not afraid to talk back. In short: Everything the pureblood-wife his father had always pictured for him in his youth _wasn't_. And everything _he_ craved for. On top of it, she was beautiful. Not drop-dead-beautiful like Astoria Greengrass; more the kind of beauty that enchanted, that sparkled from within, that became more and more apparent the longer one looked at it.

But it was the _circumstances_ under which the sex had happened in that made his stomach turn: Hermione was a woman he planned to seduce and be seduced by, to play an equal game with her before they slept with each other. This decision was taken from her, from both of them, actually. Draco remembered that he had not been in command of his own actions anymore, like he was imperiused by his own desires. The thought how that bastard of Quidditch player had his hands all over her in the evening before made Draco feel sick. Anger boiled in him that Krum hadn't even noticed that Hermione wasn't herself and would surely have taken advantage of her weakened state. ' _But was I better?'_

Setting his feet on the dark wooden floor, he immediately wanted to search for the woman he undoubtedly experienced more orgasms with than with any other witch in one night. Scowling at his growing erection and smelling the scent of mind-blowing sex all over him, he decided that he had to shower first.

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

The discovery that their blood samples had vanished from his bedside table, forced Draco to assume Hermione had taken them into testing. Or one of the house-elves had turned into a vampire.

When he stepped into her lab, freshly showered and feeling just a bit sore in certain areas (some bits were simply not _made_ to be used _that_ often in a row), he discovered Hermione bent over a microscope – he made Jackie explain to him some of the muggle devices, because he didn't want to appear too pureblood in Hermione's company.

Hesitating, he pondered how to address her. How does one start a conversation with the war heroine he had explosive, fantastic -and drug influenced- sex with through the night? ' _I should send an owl to Azkaban to ask Father this special question.'_

"I can hear the wheels turning beneath that annoyingly perfect blond hair of yours!" The witch spoke into the quiet, her face not leaving the microscope.

' _She just had to take control, didn't she?'_ He cleared his throat. "But here you imply that I actually _am_ in possession of a brain!" he teased back and felt the tension in him uncoiling. She wasn't angry or ashamed about what happened- right?

"Listen, Granger—"

"Oh, it's Granger again? Because I'm quite sure it was 'Hermione' you were shouting while we were shagging until our bones turned to pudding." She didn't sound insulting when she said it; more challenging.

"About that…I don't regret that we had sex per se, don't get me wrong. But—" he started. And was interrupted again.

"The circumstances were far from ideal, I know. It wasn't the way I imagined it, either."

' _She imagined us having sex? Interesting…'_ Draco thought.

"Exactly. I am aware that the drug made us do things we possibly wouldn't have done sober. No, don't interrupt me again, little witch—" he stopped her as she opened her mouth, his voice tingling with an edge of gentle command. "But we both know the dynamics between us have changed a great deal since our school days. And don't even try to deny that."

She wouldn't dream of it. Especially when he stepped closer to her, his lithe form towering over her in her office chair. He put his arms on the rests beside her body and leaned down, his grey eyes boring into her brown ones.

"I am nothing but a silly muggleborn. Who am I to contradict the great Draco Malfoy?" It was difficult for her to keep her voice sarcastic and her head clear with his close proximity and his intoxicating scent surrounding her.

"What you are, Hermione Granger, is the woman I ask out for dinner tonight." When she frowned, he was sure it was because of the events from the previous night. ' _Perhaps she wanted to go with this forsaken Quidditch player and I interrupted them?'_ But he buried that thought fast, as he was convinced there had been a spark of attraction between them before.

"I don't think that's a good idea." His shoulders dropped and it occurred to Hermione that she had chosen the wrong words. "What about this: You come to my home at seven-ish, and I cook for you? This way we can discuss what happened between us without the threat of being troubled or eavesdropped by the press."

He gave her a smile-an actual smile, not a smirk- as an answer, and the underlying sexual tension that hung in the air before developed into something sweeter.

Feeling like a nervous schoolboy – not that he had ever felt like that while in Hogwarts (being trained to be a murderer tend to erase that from the daily agenda) (bedding girls excluded)- he leaned down and pressed a short and chaste kiss on her lips.

' _Oh no, I'm blushing! He very nearly fucked my brain out, and now I feel shy after an innocent kiss!'_ To cover her slip, she began to inform him about her findings as he withdrew his face. "As you guessed correctly, I came here after I woke up. I started testing our samples first thing this morning."

"I second that. We need to find out what these bastards have done to us and, perhaps, other people. But could you really use the blood? I don't remember you casting a stasis charm to preserve them." ' _On the other side, that could be because I was drugged and dick-driven while that delectable ass swayed in front of me, begging to be touched,'_ he pondered as an afterthought; he, luckily, didn't say it aloud.

Hermione gave him a nearly Slytherin grin. "To prevent further _incidents_ like that one with Jackie, I updated the vials a bit. They now consist of a special unbreakable glass we use in muggle labs and an in-built stasis-charm."

Draco was astonished. "You really are back, aren't you? That's bloody inspiring!"

"Thanks. But aren't you curious to know what I found in the samples? Let me explain something first. I already told you that I experienced drugged coitus once before, and that was when we became a bit daring on a field trip with my university to South America. We were there to explore certain medicinal uses of _Erythroxylum coca_ , the coca plant. Let's just say things got a little bit out of hand, and a few naked people were involved, okay?" Draco nodded politely, while his dick wanted to take over again, forcing a blood inequality in his body. He shrugged his shoulders to clear his thoughts and listened to Hermione again.

"Funny enough, it felt quite similar like last night. So when I woke up, I had a feeling that it was cocaine, or something like that, we were influenced by." She didn't feel compelled to describe how she woke up: Draco spooning her and one of his legs between hers, his morning wood prominently prodding at her entrance. She really felt tempted to wake him then. Or, precisely: her inner slut did. Though she wanted to make sure that their systems were cleared before she slept with him again. And _again_ being the key word, her inner slut clapping happily to this realisation.

"Before I could run the tests, I went over to my muggle workplace to get a bit of cocaine we keep for medicinal research there. I tested back and forth, and voilà: there is, indeed, mostly cocaine in our samples. I strongly suspect that we can name two of at least three components in Morgana's Touch now."

"Though, something doesn't add up." Draco's brows were furrowed. "Neither you nor I started firing hexes around, meaning we didn't experience phase three of the drug."

"You discovered a valid point there." Hermione knew Draco was a brilliant Auror, his quick-thinking and sharp intelligence, along with his skilled magical abilities, were responsible for that.

"And that's where your work obligations come in. Aside from the cocaine, I found a very small percentage of THC in there and a scarce amount of something else I couldn't identify yet, presumably the very substance responsible for the magical high. The concentration of cocaine was highly adapted to our personal weight and body functions. Enough to make us high, but not enough to let us experience phase three or cause the, otherwise, typical down after the consummation of many drugs."

Draco nearly choked at the realisation. "Shit, we were picked personally. Someone wanted _us_ drugged, you and me."

"Exceeds Expectations, Mr. Malfoy." Hermione had come to the same conclusion, only thirty seconds before Draco had come to her lab.

"I have work to do, it seems!" With these words, he eagerly walked towards the door. But then he stopped and turned to her again, his expression slightly panicked.

"Uh, Hermione? Something occurred to me just this morning… is there a chance that our…encounter will have some life-altering consequences in the future?" He absolutely didn't want to tell her that it was after he had jacked off in the shower to the thoughts of her around him, and his come trickled over his hands, that they had probably forgotten to cast a Contraceptive Charm.

She rolled his eyes at him. That was somehow sweet, but – ' _Wizards_!'. "I am a doctor, Draco. Do you really think I'd forget that? I'm on the pill AND, for good measure, cast a Morning-After Charm. Moreover, I am healthy and checked your blood sample for STIs. Your blood is as pure as your father made you believe it."

Ignoring the jab on his upbringing, Draco asked, "What's an STI?"

"Sexually transmitted infections. Honestly, a thorough Sex Ed would do wonders to young witches and wizards!"

 **P.S. I wanted to recommend some fantastic stories for all of you who are interested. Literally EVERYTHING MrBenzedrine writes (How to Train your auror 1 & 2, Sex Ed, Bond, Drinking Buddies...), 'Empire' by WayMay, 'Unhinged' and 'Anonymity' by writerspassion18, 'Carnal Knowledge' by Jaqueline Noir. Every single story is Dramione, of course!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Had a very busy week... but got this written and hope you like it. A heartfelt THANK YOU to my beta MrBenzedrine. Girls with temper could rule the world and best everyone! And you are one of them!**

 **MrBenzedrine also said some notes would help:**

 **\- the path/road to Canossa: Comes from a somewhat historical occurence, where Henry IV went to Canossa in Italy to avoid the excommunication by the Pope and had to wait kneeling in the cold January of 1077 for three days**

 **\- the kernel of the brute = English translation of a Goethe quote, meaning to get to the core of things. In the famous tragic play Faust from the 19th century, a young man makes a deal with the devil, literally.**

 **\- la petite mort = Little death in French, often used as a description for orgasm**

There was exactly one thing in the kitchen Hermione excelled at: Making lasagne. And that was what she prepared for dinner with Draco, along with a salad.

"Isn't your gourmet tongue disgusted at the prospect of this simple meal?" Hermione inquired when he helped himself to a second slice.

"Yes, but I've been taught how to behave, and that's why I'm holding back," he deadpanned, and she stuck out her tongue. "In reality, I've been eaten tons of lasagne before. Being best friends with Blaise does that to a man."

She chuckled at the thought of the two aristocratic wizards in an exclusive dining room – stuffing their bellies with lasagne. "What's 'the Italian stallion' up to now? Chasing skirts all over Europe?"

Now it was Draco's turn to laugh. "You're close. He manages the potions branch of my family company quite successfully. And, if he doesn't lie to me, he really utilises his trips all around the world to get his international taste of witches."

"But he isn't responsible for the entire business? Who is, then?" She was quite curious who had the verve of conducting a business empire as big as the Malfoy's.

"My mother is." He raised a confrontational eyebrow. "Surprised?"

"No, not really."Slytherin or not, Narcissa Malfoy had shown bravery worthy of a Gryffindor to protect her son, and Hermione always appreciated that in her. "I always pegged her as an intelligent and devious woman who waited for her reasonable chance to take the reins. What about your father?"

He visibly tensed. Not because she had asked, but because the subject was still a touchy one for him and his mother. "Rotting in Azkaban." The conversation ceased for a minute or so, and his voice was full of emotions as Draco resumed talking. "The day my father was sent to a lifelong penalty was a liberation impact for my mother. She started renovating the manor the day after and moved out into her own cottage when she finished that. She said she wanted to erase the dark memories from the house, but that it wasn't her place to refill it with happy ones."

Hermione nodded. That made sense to her. "What about you?"

"I'm the heir. It's my obligation to live in Malfoy Manor and continue the legacy. My relationship to Father is highly troubled, as you can guess. I understand, to some point, he did what he believed what was best for the family. But most things he did were in favour of his personal power, putting my mother's life, and mine, on the line." He felt oddly comforted to tell the brunette the things which plagued him for so long.

"For example, allowing you to be forced to take the Dark Mark?" The witch suggested carefully.

"Partly. I would lie to the world -and myself- if I denied I wanted that snake on my arm and in my head on some point. As you know, the hunger for power and the trend to insanity lies in both of my lineages."

Hermione recognised the hint to a conversation that seemed ages away now.

"And your decision to become an Auror? Your personal path to Canossa?"

He couldn't help but smile. "You're testing my history knowledge now? Don't forget, I grew up with a library full of original manuscripts. But, yes, the job is part of my redemption. Though, I didn't calculate I'd be so good at it."

"And we welcome back the arrogant prat-part of Draco Malfoy. Where have you been, old boy?" Her comment eased the heaviness their conversation procured.

The rest of the dinner was spent in amicable chatter and banter, lacking the malicious drifts it possessed in their younger years. He brought a Cabernet Sauvignon. They had already refilled their glasses when they settled down on her couch next to each other, the case files spread on the coffee table.

"What were you working on?" Draco pointed to the opened book that showed colourful figures of the human brain.

"On Harry's case, and how it connects to the regular consummates of Morgana's touch. And I might have found something, however, I have to cross-check it with a wizarding library."

"Of _course_ you have to." The wizard gazed at Hermione, curious about the findings of her brilliant mind.

"The arrogance of wizards is really unbelievable. There's essentially been two wars caused by blood-supremacy, but the Ministry hasn't invest one Galleon to research where the magic actually lies within us." Her inner slut screamed at her ' _You know where HIS magic lies- and, boy, can he use his magic stick for pleasurable things._ '

"But you did the research?" He was impressed, again.

"It's more a basic theory. This structure on the underside of the brain is the hypothalamus, and it controls functions such as hunger, thirst, the circadian rhythm, and attachment behaviours. In short, the basic functions of the mammals."

"Is magic a basic function?" Draco asked, and Hermione was taken aback by his quick perception.

"It would made sense. We are born with it. It is affected by our emotions, good and bad. And we can draw a connection to the THC." Her statement made him raise his eyebrows, questioning. "The lateral hypothalamus is known to have a high density of a certain receptor; a docking station for specific substances, if you will, which causes specific reactions in the following neurons. You know what neurons are, don't you?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I happen to own one or two nerve-cells, thank you very much."

"The described receptor happens to be sensitive for THC and one of the body's own cannabinoids. It plays an important role in learning, memory, appetite and stress response."

"Our body produces its own cannabis?"

"Mmh, yes. The higher concentration of THC sort of overloads the receptors, and this results in the typical symptoms of cannabis use; giddiness, lowered inhibition et cetera. The cannabinoid-receptors have seemingly conflicting impacts, but my conclusion is this: The THC works as an opener in the part of the brain where the magic lies; a primer for the following cocaine and our cryptic substance. The cocaine raises the level of activity in the hypothalamus and is responsible for changing the hormonal level in connection with other parts of the hormonal system."

"THC is the door opener, the cocaine pushes the magic-residency of the brain and makes horny as a comfortable side effect. Why is that?"

"That's the kernel of the brute. Our substance X is one that can either boost the magic along with a high _or_ drain the brain of it totally. Whereas it's the former case for the addicts, it was the latter for Harry. I presume he went to all phases of the drug use, but for some reason, his brain was sent into a sudden and nearly complete erase of residing magic instead of the high. And that short-circuited his brain, sending him into a coma."

On an impulse, Draco cupped her face with his hands and smacked a kiss on her lips, laughing at her expression -which had changed from lecturing-mode into befuddled in one, short moment.

"What was that for?"

"For being your ingenious self! Don't argue."

"I wouldn't dare." She gathered her wits again, still elated at his sweet gesture. "As I said, I need to cross-check with some other books, but I think I can search for a potion, spell, or something that could recharge Harry's magic a bit. Enough for him to wake up, at least. The rest will restore itself, I hope. And there are some points that I need to find out: for example why there is no trace of THC in Harry's, or our, samples, but in the one you snatched from Georgie."

"I am absolutely sure that you will find an explanation," Draco encouraged the brunette. They both followed their own train of thoughts for a minute or two, silence filling the room except for the occasional sipping of wine. Then, Draco suddenly spoke. "I have to say it now, before it kills me: I understand if you want to press charges against me." He spilled out the thought that had troubled him since he woke up. "After all, I made use of you in a state where I knew you'd be inhibited." There, it was out now.

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. "You can't be serious. Draco,=. We both were inhibited. Our blood count proves that. And while we certainly rushed things a bit with last night, it was _not_ something I was forced to do. But this wasn't rape. It was consensual, what happened between us. It isn't a problem that we had sex, Draco, as we both felt a strong attraction towards the other before." She had pondered over the thought the entire day. "What frightens me is not that our inhibitions were lowered, or that I've been intimate with a handsome and intelligent wizard I happen to know on his worst and best since I've been eleven..."

The man in question was impressed at her ability to compartmentalise, something not many women were willing to do when it came to sex. Of course, he felt humbled at Hermione's thinly veiled compliments.

"I'm more worried about what _could_ have happened had you not come for me. I was this short of giving into Viktor's advances." She held up her thumb and index in close vicinity. "And though he and I have a past of intimacy, I'm not sure if I wouldn't have rejected him sober."

"Let me sum this up to see if I got it right, yes? You're basically okay that we had sex, but, in general, angry and concerned that someone brought you – _us-_ to this state," Draco voiced.

"Yes, you've got it covered." Hermione nodded her head.

"Now all we need to do is identify the dealers, the person who drugged us, find the remaining ingredients of Morgana's Touch, and wake up Harry Potter." Despite the situation, he smirked. "That's sounds about like a regular Hogwarts year to you, doesn't it?"

His words elicited a smile on her face. "Quite fitting. Though it's more a mix of first year with all the riddles we have to solve step by step and a criminal to hunt like in third."

The blond challenged her subtly. "Hermione Granger for beginners, then?"

"You have to pass the test for the advanced course, cutie, and your father can't buy you in this time."

He was mature enough to see the idiocy of their youth and laughed loudly at her quip."Oh, I'll see to pass this test," he mumbled under his breath, still chuckling and relieved that they cleared things up between them.

The continued working on discussing suspects for the drug dealing for about two hours, to no success. The bottle of wine was still half full, and they had switched to water, determined to keep themselves sober.

"What's wrong? You're sitting so tense," Draco noticed when Hermione rubbed her neck for the third time in ten minutes.

"My neck feels like stone. I always get that from spending too much time in the lab bent over analytical machines. And my lower back. And, strangely, my feet also hurt." Draco knew where the latter aches came from: arching the back many times over to get their private parts closer together and tiptoeing while being taken against a wall from behind. But Malfoys knew when to keep quiet. Instead he placed his own hands on her neck, turning her back towards him and rubbed circles over the muscles below her skull. "Here?" he asked, and applied a bit more pressure with his fingers.

Her eyes fluttered close and she sighed. "Yes, exactly there. Harder, please."

Draco didn't know whether it was her double-meaning words or the quiet moan that escaped her lips when he followed her instructions, but his cock twitched, appreciating. He noticed how Hermione relaxed under his fingers, the tension lessening in her posture. Now he wanted her naked under him on a bed. Not in this way, of course. Well, not at first.

"Is there a chance that you are in possession of massage oil?"

"Mmmh." She answered positive.

"What do you think about a body massage?" He tried to sound casual.

Hadn't her brain turned to mush already? Because- ' _Gods, his hands are divine_!' -she would have heard a bit of excitement. But all she could produce was, "Sounds fantastic. My bed?" Somewhere deep in her conscious, the relaxed slut mumbled ' _You invited Draco Malfoy into your bed! Get up and enjoy that!'_ Her eyes half-lidded, she got up from the couch, took Draco's hand in hers and _accioed_ the massage oil from the bathroom. Leading him to her bedroom, she asked, "Clothes off?" and her lips turned into a contempt smile.

"Well, yes. Fully clothed, the oil would leave awful stains that the house-elves would need hours to get rid of."

"The house-elf-card. Well played, Slytherin. A simple 'take off your clothes for me' would have done the trick." With that, she stripped down to her underwear and laid on her stomach, her head resting on her pillow. It all happened so fast Draco could hardly blink. Admiring her female form, he got out of his trousers, socks and shirt, leaving him only in his deep green boxers. When he was about to climb on the bed, Hermione threw a mischievous glance over her shoulder, resting a bit longer on the place where his cock silhouetted against the fabric. "Slytherin green, seriously? A snake through and through!"

"I could say the same about your house loyalty." He barely traced the outline of her red panties on the small of her back and saw how her eyes closed again. "Though you make more of a purring panther right now."

"Oh, if you don't start with that promised massage, I'm turning in a tackling lioness soon."

Draco sniggered to himself– ' _Either ways, she has all the right arguments to make me a cat-person._ '—and poured the oil on her back, in the small hollow of her spine. Hermione gave a small shiver upon contact from the cold liquid, which instantly turned into a deep moan when his hands spread the oil on her back and kneaded the tensed muscles there. He kneeled beside her torso as he pressed and rolled her back into a relaxed state again. Draco worked wonders on her while he travelled his hands from the lower back to the shoulders, alternating big circles with selective pressure of his fingers and stroking movements with the heels of his hands. Hermione's brain had long gone on vacation when he stopped somewhere in the middle on her back, which he had spared until now.

"May I open your bra? It's kind of hindering. Only if you're alright with it." He desperately wanted to have her agreement on every step he made towards her after the night that was behind them.

"Yes, as long as you don't stop." Her voice was husky when she gave her permission. With a practised move, Draco opened the clasp of the equally red balconette bra and slipped the straps from her shoulders. She lifted her upper body to pull it away from under her, giving him an arousing view from sideways on her breasts. They looked heavy with wide areolas as signs of her relaxation – and were enough to give him an erection. To distract himself, he resumed his actions on her skin. Remembering that her feet ached, too, he took one of them in his hands. Hermione didn't even try to quiet her sounds of approval as he concentrated on the underside. Inwardly, her brain regained a bit of consciousness, realising that she sounded outright lusting when he finished with the second foot. He spread her legs a bit then, just enough to make it possible for him to kneel between them. Draco worked on both legs parallel, administering perfectly timed circles on her calves and the back of her knees. When he arrived at her thighs, the touches became a bit lighter, more carressing. Hermione felt downright horny. ' _I wonder if he can smell my arousal from where he sits.'_ His fingers inched higher towards her centre now, and she could definitely feel dampness there. When she heard his breathing get heavier, he stopped. A protesting sound from Hermione caused him to chuckle lowly, and even more so when her grumble changed into an excited sigh as he poured fresh oil on her back, directly over her remaining underwear.

Draco distributed the liquid with his fingers, the tips reaching around her hips. What she did next prompted his heart to pump more blood to his length; she lifted her bum, explaining: "The oil already made everything wet underneath, might as well get rid of it." Stunned, he hooked his thumbs under the sides of the panties and pulled them down. He had to get up to fully dispose of them and, not wasting any time, his own boxers. Now fully naked, he took up his position between her legs and spread them a little further than before. He stretched both of his hands over her ass cheeks, questioning her, "Am I allowed to go on?" She bucked her bum against his hands as an answer, bringing his hard-on in the softest of contact to her folds. Both gasped at the sudden touch -her because she was pleasantly surprised at his naked and erect member, and him because of her obvious signs of her aroused state glistening on his glands. He couldn't remember when he had been this aroused by a woman, and he didn't even touch her lady bits. Draco massaged her cheeks with the perfect pressure to let her squirm, his fingers slowly approaching her folds.

"Do you like that?" he inquired.

"What do you think?" was her breathy answer.

"I think—" while speaking, he rested his hands at the apex of her thighs, and slid his thumbs into her cunt, relishing in the wanton noise he received as a reaction. "—that you are dripping on your sheets." Draco slid his thumbs out and in again, this time going deeper and closed the rest of his fingers around the perfect rounds of her behind. The bucking of her hips against him was his sweet reward. "Am I deducing, correctly, that you were okay with more?" He wanted her, more than any other witch before. She was so responsive, warm and wet from the massage oil and his touches, that he shivered in anticipation.

p!"I can't believe that I'm saying this, but: Less talking, more action, Malfoy!" Hermione wriggled her bum invitingly and without further comment, Draco slid one arm around her hips to lift her lower half up and onto him and positioned his now throbbing cock at her entrance. She was so slick that he met not the slightest resistance when he slid into her. Fully sheathed, he had to still for a moment to recollect himself, because he didn't want to come with the first thrust like a teenager at his first time.

When he started to move within her, he did so leisurely, slowly and relishing. Using his hands to dictate the rhythm, he felt like in heaven and, judging by the sounds she made, she did, too. Suddenly, Hermione spoke. "Let's move, yes? I want to look into your eyes when you're coming."

He happily obliged, a warmth settling in him that was not caused by their lustful encounter. Draco pulled himself out and helped her turn around. Hermione was on her back now, her legs spread to welcome him between them. He lowered himself on her, penetrating again and cradling her head in his hands. Their lips met in a deep and meaningful kiss, their tongues chasing each other. A delighted sigh rang from her mouth when he started entering her again and again. She was caged by him, her whole vision consisting of his face and the burning ice of his eyes. Resting his forehead on hers, their noses deliberately touching, he thrusted faster, threatening to fall through the veil that separated him from what the French called ' _petite mort'_. Her moans regained a new quality when she wrapped her legs around his waist, slightly changing the angle of their copulation. The delicious sound threw him over the brink of his orgasm. When his cock started to convulse, he whispered: "Look at me, Hermione." The expression of absolute ecstasy she discovered in him, the jerking movements of his hips when he spend himself in her, all that triggered Hermione's own release, which she cried out in form of his name.

Post-orgasmic bliss settled in after they regained their breathing, and Draco pulled his flaccid member out of her. Not bothering to care that the fluids of their passionate encounter dripped on the sheets and mingled with sweat and the remnants of the massage oil, Draco spooned Hermione tight, his arms settling comfortably around her.

"That was…" He lacked adequate words; fantastic, earth-shattering, intense?

"Much better than on drugs. Though that's hard to believe," she finished for him.

"Stop interrupting me, my bossy little witch," he mumbled in her ear, biting her earlobe with his front teeth lightly to underline his message.

"Don't complain. You love being bossed around by Hermione Granger."

And he did that, indeed. With this realisation, he fell into a peaceful, satisfied slumber.

 **Thanks to you lovely reviewers are in order: Sassystarbuck09 (Yay, you were the fastest!), Dramione shipper 17 (your smut compliment made me blush, did you like this one?), EvenNotOdd (right again), echiprwth (fans back!), Sam Wallflower (sooo excited for your reaction to this one!), I was BOTW (haptic memoriy, LMAO, and right on the ingredients), Vanessa85 (you're welcome), pgoodrichboggs (they're getting closer indeed), writerspassion18 (you're onto something, wohoo!), IGOTEAMEDWARD (I will reveal that in time...), Slytherinvillain7 (really excited what you say to this one!), KnowInsight (smirks back), IrishPrincess1987 (no cheap thrills, I hope), Hanable-13 (asshat - learned a new word here ;)), emmafierce and Aletta-Feather (thanks for jumping on this boat).**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Yay! Over 100 reviews and so many f** **ollows and favourites! That makes me sooo happy! As ever, THANK YOU to the brilliant MrBenzedrine for keeping up with my stuff and liking it! Oliver's for you in here! Thanks also to: Vanessa85 (you're welcome), Sam Wallflower (that was my favourite line in CC, too!), Dramione shipper 17 (again blushing!), Sassystarbuck09 (out together? not yet), EvenNotOdd (here's the next), echiprwth (don't we all envy Hermione?), pgoodrichboggs (thanks for complimenting me on the difference, wasn't sure if that came over), Jaqueline Noir (hope this one is humorous enough for your liking ;)), I was BOTW (Ginny... you pointed out something I have to think about!), Knowinsight (thanks!) and Slytherinvillain7 (your compliment means much to me!).**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Arrow. Sadly.**

Draco woke up wonderfully rested, but, again, alone; and wishing Hermione would have stayed in bed with him, wrapped in his embrace. ' _Damn, did I just wish for a cuddle session? Malfoys don't cuddle. Not even themselves. She's turning me into a Gryffindor!_ ' Groaning, he got out of the bed and searched for his boxers. The morning was simply too cool to walk around naked, and he didn't want his most precious parts freezing. Noticing he was quite sticky in some places, he decided to have a shower, or at least a s _courgify_ before breakfast. He stepped out of the bedroom and a divine scent flooded his nostrils. ' _Oh Salazar, please, let that be pancakes!_ '

The blond turned around the corner to the kitchen, fully anticipating Hermione to sit there, a coffee and a newspaper in hand, her curls a bit ruffled from sleep and love-making. Perhaps she wore his shirt, unbuttoned, granting him a view on her glorious tits?

"Hermione, do you happen to know where my wand—"It was then he realised there was not one, bu _t four_ female faces looking back at him. The table was set for breakfast, a big portion of pancakes in the middle, with Juliet, Anny and Eileen sitting around it. One could nearly hear their jaws dropping upon the sight of Draco Malfoy, only clad in his boxers and wearing this irresistible out-of-bed expression that made him an alluring blend of sexy and cute.

After five seconds of stunned silence, Eileen was the first of the three visitors who regained the ability of speech. "Blimey, if I were into men, I'd be the first in line helping him to look for his _wand_!" Hermione started to giggle from where she stood next to the sink.

"And I'd be the second. I bet something so _long_ , _thick_ and _hard_ won't be so difficult to find!" Juliet added, bubbling in laughter. The four women were soon howling, and Draco didn't even try to suppress his - totally male- chuckling. Hermione closed the distance between Draco and herself and kissed him lightly on the lips, feeling his arm going around her waist.

"Sorry, I totally forgot that I invited the girls over for breakfast this morning. I silenced the bedroom and left a note you must have overlooked, reading: ' _There's a bunch of under-sexed women sitting in my kitchen'_ ," she whispered into his ear.

His answer, again underlined with a gentle nibbling on her ear, sent excited tingles through her body. "I'm very _cocksure_ that under-sexed doesn't hold true to you. Let's make it certain that it stays that way, yes? I'd be willing to assist you."

' _Gods, is this the crazy Draco-Malfoy-way to ask me for a relationship?'_ All warm inside, she decided to test the waters. "Absolutely. You should shower and dress, though." She ran a finger over his abs and grinned playfully. "You are too much of a temptation, even for lesbians, and this lioness doesn't like to share her prey."

With a pat on her bum and another chuckle, Draco let go of Hermione. He bowed to the three gaping woman at the table as if he wore an evening suit. "Ladies. Excuse me, please." And with that he left Hermione's kitchen for the shower, walking with a posture worthy of his pureblood pedigree and didn't even look back when the ' _ladies_ ' dissolved into giggles.

After she handed out coffee and tea, Hermione sat down at the table. She could anticipate what was to come next.

"Whoa, girl, this is the guy from the club and the hospital, isn't it?" Juliet started the interrogation, and Anny contributed, "He's absolutely _yummy_. But didn't you say that he is a prejudiced bastard?"

Hermione blushed. "Well, he _was_ the last time we met. He's changed a lot since then, though he still has arrogant and cunning streaks, but I guess that comes with his heritage. Draco tries hard to make people forget his past. You see, there was a lot of darkness in him and around him."

"I saw the tattoo, this snake and skull thing on his left forearm. Was he involved in a gang or something? Though that doesn't add up to his articulated phrasing and this elite boarding school you visited." Anny expressed.

Hermione nodded to her friend's observation. "You're right, I guess one could say he was raised in a certain circle that held onto some twisted values, and there was a time where he was an active member of it. But he redeemed himself and his family name. He is working as a kind of special agent at the ministry now." She gave them the 'muggled' version of the story and was surprised how easy it was to adapt.

Juliet started giggling again. "Put it down to binge-watching TV-shows when I'm on night-shift, but he reminds me of Oliver Queen: Handsome, dubious past and catching the bad guys."

Freshly dressed and showered, Draco entered the kitchen at the precise moment, and his scent made Hermione wish they were alone, because she wanted to lick and taste him. "Who is Oliver Queen?" the wizard asked, of course not familiar with television.

"The main character of a TV-show, essentially a man who hunts down bad people with the help of his friends and many, many arrows," Eileen explained. Did this man work so much that he didn't even know 'Arrow'?

"Does it take place in the medieval times? Because of the arrows, I mean," Draco wanted to know, intrigued by the thought of television-stories.

"Nah, it takes place in the 21st century. Arrows are much more elegant than bullets, I suppose. You can make them explode, they are suitable for many distances, you can poison them..." the woman continued, but Draco didn't listen anymore. He dropped the pancake he wanted to help himself to, when something connected in his brain and he locked eyes with Hermione. Not wanting to voice his thought aloud, he grabbed the paper and pen that lay on her counter.

' _Potter-attack: Arrow used? Disillusioned_?' he wrote down hastily. He showed the paper to Hermione, whose eyes widened. She nodded, afluttered.

"I'm going to investigate on the game field a bit. Perhaps I can find something." Draco wanted to pay the Chudley Cannon's field a visit.

"Have you got everything you need?" Hermione threw an inconspicuous glance at his arm, where his wand-holster lay hidden. He nodded and gave her a short, but strong kiss, flicking his tongue against hers once, causing her friends to wolf-whistle. "I'll owl you," he said and left through the door, reminding himself not to step into the fireplace. But he heard Anny asking Hermione in the kitchen "Did he say ' _I owe you'_? You naughty girl, what have you done to the poor man?"

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

The Cannon's locker room was empty, as all the players were practising on the field. There was a time in his childhood when Draco wanted nothing more than to become a professional Quidditch Player. Although he probably possessed the necessary talent for it, his dream was shadowed by the sinister happenings around him. He still played, but simply for fun with his friends- even Potter and his gang of brother-in-laws.

Concentrating on the task at hand, Draco examined the locker room for any evidences that Harry's attack happened in this very place. He had complained about a stiffness in his neck, and an arrow would be an effective device to apply the drug in a victim. Combined with a disillusionment-charm, it would be the perfect crime. Draco raised his wand at the room and ended all eventual charms and spells, casting "Finite Incatatum!" Focusing, the wizard searched the room from top to bottom, his hands gloved, turning every bench, opening every drawer, even removing the shower heads. When he was tempted to _accio_ the evidence, his fingertips touched something pointy in the drain. He carefully removed the grating and unearthed a petite arrow, small as his pinkie and very slim. It was hollow, and a small part of the tip was missing. He pocketed it in a plastic bag, wrote a short description on it, and stored it away in his Auror robes. At the sound of footsteps, he turned around.

The practice session was finished, and the male players filed into the locker room to shower and change. Viktor Krum, still in his full gear, spotted Draco first, and the Bulgarian's face fell into a grimace immediately.

"Vat do you vant here, Malfoy?" the Captain snarled, clearly displeased at the sight of the blond.

"As you very well know, my family's company owns this team. If I want to be here, I can bloody well do as I wish." Draco decided to play the heir-card rather than to tell the truth, as not to rouse any suspicions.

"Vhy don't you move off as vast as you did de last time? Vhen you took my girl vith you. Ve had plans dat evening." Krum stepped closer to Draco, the attention of the other players focused on the two of them now. Draco didn't budge an inch. He had faced many wizards and witches that tried to intimidate him.

"I have no doubt that you had plans with her. Didn't you realise that she was as high as a kite?" Draco fought hard not to point his wand at the other wizard's throat.

Viktor shrugged his shoulders. "Dis Vodka can do crazy dhings to dat woman. I vould have taken care of her, and she vould have enjoyed vhat I had in mind either vays."

Draco knew it was the jealousy pouring out of him when he set his lips into the trademark Malfoy smirk, his eyes cold, and drawled, "Keep your broom in your pants, Krum. I, _myself_ , ensured that Hermione came to rest safe and _satisfied_." Turning on his heel, he apparated away. The last thing he saw from the Chudley Cannon's stadium was Viktor Krum slamming his expensive broomstick into the wall.

Rematerializing at the Ministry, Draco took deep breaths to control the ire in him. He knew he was pathetic and possessive, but he wanted Krum to know that he had bedded Hermione Friday night and that he'd better stay away from _his_ witch. The Malfoy heir shared just as little as the lioness.

DHDHDHDHDH

Hermione and Draco agreed to meet at her lab an hour later. Because it was Sunday, the department was void of workers, except for those unlucky ones who needed to catch up with paperwork or were assigned a regular weekend shift.

"I already checked it for fingerprints and magical signature,s and it came out negative, so I thought you could help me." He handed her the plastic bag. She put on gloves and took the arrow out of it to examine it under a bright lamp.

"I think there was a small injection needle in the shaft that applied the drug into Harry's circulatory system when it came in contact with his skin. Let's see if there's anything helpful left on the tip." She swiped a q-tip over the arrow, put it into a container, and placed it into the terahertz spectroscope. Draco used the opportunity of her working to stand behind her and curled one of her strands around his finger, fascinated when it bounced back again.

Hermione interrupted his doings, and her voice was tinted with reluctance as she spoke. "Draco, what is this thing that developed between us? Are we in a relationship now? Are we a couple? Or more fuck-buddies? Because I'm not Jackie. You can't order me to the Manor for a shag. What are you laughing at, ferret?"

The wizard gave her an amused smile. "I might be a spoiled heir and a successful Auror, but not even I am arrogant enough to assume I can order Hermione Granger to do anything!" He turned serious. "I honestly don't know what we have. But I know that the sex we had last night was epic, and I want more of that. Much more. And that I don't want to wake up alone again after falling asleep next to you. I want to take you into public and show you off like diamond cufflinks." In his mind he added, ' _And rub it into Krum's face!_ ' -"What concerns me most, at the moment, is that you could fade into the muggle world again when this case is closed. Because you belong here, and _there_ you have to pretend to be someone you are not, my little witch."

As he talked, he placed a finger under her jaw and tilted it up to him, their gaze locked. Hermione smiled, happy and a bit proud that _she_ was the one the former Slytherin directed these words at.

"Well, I guess it is okay that I introduce you as my boyfriend now? And you are going to tell Ginny I'm your personal and exclusive wand-polisher?"

A searing kiss was the answer at her cheeky remark, until a beep from the device told them the analysis was finished. Pulling away reluctantly from Draco and looking at the screen, Hermione inhaled sharply.

"Holy cow! Speaking of pretending to be someone: along with cocaine, traces of Lacewing flies, fluxweed, knotgrass, leeches, horn of Bicorn and Boomslang-skin could be identified on the tip of the arrow."

Hermione and Draco concluded the ingredients at the same time: "Polyjuice Potion!"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Another one! You all totally crack me up with your reviews and reading/following/favouring (?) my stories! Thank you so, so, soooo much MrBenzedrine for proofreading, being patient with me, and letting be borrowing some lines/ideas from you. You taught me that 'meister' is an actual word in English! May the luck o'the Irish help! Further thanks to: zoesheppard (you're welcome), mlmrl (I like that way, too), pgoodrichpoggs (Blaise, eh? I think he will appear somewhere later), Sassystarbuck09 (totally!), SmileSimplify (thanks for catching up), I was BOTWP (it was planned from the beginning!), Jaqueline Noir (you're awesome), Dramione shipper 17 (sometimes I have a sweet tooth ;)), IrishPrincess1987 (thanks, waiting for your next chapter), APeaceOfPie4Everybody011 (yup, somehow), Sam Wallflower (you humble me, really!), echiprwth (thanks, hihihi), Slytherinvillain7 (we should all have a Draco first thing in the morning!), EvenNotOdd (assume and read!), Grovek26 (thank you!), IGOTEAMEDWARD (thank you!), KnowInsight (why should I stop here? It's so much fun. Let me go on, please?), HarryPGinnyW4eva (You're back! Great!), writerspassion18 (Yes, Polyjuice, I simply love the name...okay, perhaps there's more to it). Vanessa85 (always welome!), mega700201 (ditto!), Green Eyed Lana Lee (sexy mystery? that's a cool expression, lol!), IWasn'tTalkingToYou (tataaa, here it is!), Guest (yup! right!).**

"You're thinking the same as me, aren't you?" Draco said, a bit flustered, because the thought of someone pretending they were someone else always unsettled him.

"That the person lying in the hospital's bed isn't Harry?" Hermione guessed. "Don't be daft, Malfoy. I always thought Potions was your strongest subject at Hogwarts. Think about it. The potion would have long worn off, even when it was applied to the bloodstream. But take into consideration what the potion would else have to contain." She wanted him to conclude on his own- well, with a little help of the brightest witch of her age. He was always second to her, after all.

"It needs a piece of the person you're turning into…" he closed his eyes to concentrate. "There was no hair or anything in the sample you examined? Not even from the time it lay on the floor?"

"Nope. Whoever prepared that must have used a dirt-repelling charm on it. Very clean work." Hermione smiled at the wizard, who still had his eyes closed. She happily admitted she was attracted to the intellectual side of him. ' _Knowledge is power. And sex. Hell, is he astute!_ ' her inner slut remarked.

Draco spoke quietly, as if weighing every word. "But the only substance identified except for the Polyjuice ingredients was cocaine. That would indicate the potion was used to turn cocaine into something else, THC presumably, as it was found in the fresh dose of Morgana's Touch we got from Georgie."

Hermione was turned on listening to him voicing out loud his train of thoughts.

"But I thought Polyjuice works only on humans turning into other humans?" Draco finished, his eyes winding back into orbs of sparkling curiosity. The brunette witch melted inside and nodded to confirm what he said.

"Normally, Polyjuice doesn't generate a high or a magical coma. That means someone messed with the recipe, tweaked it a bit. And I'm pretty sure he or she did it on purpose."

"I bet Severus is turning in his grave right now. I remember the summer before our sixth year, when things with Voldemort slowly started to get messy. I was over at Blaise's quite often, and one day we brewed a potion we found in the Manor's library before, in one of the more _wizard-addressed_ books. Its purpose was to strengthen a _certain_ part of the male body, motivating it to _stand guard_ longer. The testosterone driven blokes we were, we willingly overdosed some ingredients…"

Hermione couldn't contain her laughter. "Oh no! What happened?"

"The potion caused us a raging and persistent hard-on. It was fun at first, but then it wouldn't go away, not even with excessive – and of course separate – wanking. After three days, we were rubbed sore, our hands calloused and our heads aching. When Snape came to visit at the Manor, we asked my brilliant godfather, our beloved Potions Master and Head of House, for help with our not so little problems. As you can imagine, we proud Slytherins nearly died of humiliation."

Gasping for air, she managed to sputter, "Merlin, I would have given everything to see Snape's reaction! What did he do?"

"He pinched his nose, gave an aggravated sigh and disappeared into our potions lab. One hour later he came back, handed us two vials with a pink liquid and sneered," Draco willed his face and voice into a well-practised impersonation of Severus Snape. "Let this be a lesson to you never to mess with a potion, you narrow-minded fools.' Thankfully, the antidote helped the moment we swallowed it. But it was his last comment that shaped me until today," he raised one of his eyebrows in the characteristic Snape-fashion. "And get into that bloodless brain of yours: It's not the size of the wand, it's the _technique_ that enchants the witches." Both needed some minutes to recover from laughing so hard.

Wiping the tears of laughter from her face, Hermione finally announced, "We should tell Ginny, it's only fair that she's the first to be let in on our clues."

-DHDHDHDHDHDHDH-

They were greeted with a now familiar sight when they entered Harry's room in the hospital: Ginny sitting by his side, holding his hand, pale and tired. She was alone this time; no bouncing toddler around.

"Hello Ginny," Draco started, and was immediately interrupted by the redhaired witch.

"Have you got some news?" she urged.

"We found the weapon he was attacked with in the Cannon's locker room. It was an arrow."

Ginny's eyes widened.

"There's more. We discovered, an hour ago, that there was Polyjuice on the tip." The witch gasped in horror, throwing her hands to her face, and started to cry. Draco hadn't calculated her reaction and pondered what to do when Hermione walked to the other woman and closed her arms around her. For her, it was time to overcome the things that separated them for so long and start to be there for each other again.

She stroked Ginny's mane, making soothing noises and even rocking her a bit. It helped, and some minutes later, Harry's wife spoke again.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered.

Hermione didn't know how exactly to react, as she knew Harry and his family had become too foreign to her that she could anticipate their situation. She herself hadn't even thought about having children, and four -even three seemed like an unmanageable number for her. Though, she had helped bringing a baby into this world a couple of times in her time as a doctor and caught a glimpse into what joy –and pain-children could bring their parents.

She threw a questioning glance at the Auror next to her. He cleared his throat and tried to give his voice a confident tone, "Well, I'm sure Harry will be overjoyed when he awakes and hears that the Potter Quidditch team is nearing its completion."

Hermione rolled her eyes _, 'Wizards or muggles—men never pass up an opportunity to turn something highly emotional into sports. And fail every time.'_

"You don't understand." Ginny had her eyes fixed on her hands that still clutched Hermione's scrubs. "This wasn't planned. Not at all. Don't get me wrong, we love our three rascals, but they can be quite challenging at times, especially since we both work. We've been very strict with birth control since Lily was born. Except in the night this all happened…" she gestured to the bed where Harry lay. "The very night this baby was conceived. And now you tell me that there's the possibility that this man isn't my Harry? Merlin, I'm going to be sick!"

Now, relatives of patients on the verge of a panic attack was something Hermione could handle. She took Ginny's hands in her own. "Ginny. Look at me," she demanded, her voice not giving the other woman another option. Reluctant, blue eyes met browns. "Good. Now breathe. In. And out. And again." Hermione commanded Ginny's breathing rhythm for a minute, before she calmed down. "Okay, now. You're strong Ginny, you and Harry. You survived a war together. You can handle a fourth child, and it will be loved like his or her siblings." It didn't matter that she handed trivia out, Ginny believed her.

"And, of course, the baby is Harry's. My assistant here-," a dismissive hand gesture into Draco's direction, who stood still as if in fear of being doused in oestrogen, "Has yet to learn some bedside manners. We don't believe someone tried to impersonate Harry. But there was Polyjuice found. The most logical explanation we came up with was this one: someone changed the recipe of the potion, tampered with it to the result that cocaine changed into THC. The THC worked in the brain like an opener. The Polyjuice-effect wore off, and the cocaine was back, wreaking havoc with certain brain parts of him and making him insatiable concerning sex. All this to prepare for the finale- a substance in the potion that drained his brain. The same substance we presume is somehow responsible for the high in Morgana's Touch."

Ginny listened attentively. "That means Harry is still Harry?" Her eyes were full of hope, and when Hermione nodded, her hands settled down on her still flat stomach. "Thank you, Hermione."

The brunette's heart leapt, and tears threatened to spill over in her eyes. "Thank me when we've found a cure to give Harry's brain a kick-start, he opens his eyes, and kisses you because he's happy to hear your good news, okay?"

A smile ghosted over both women's lips when Draco and Hermione left again. Draco didn't dare to make a remark about how emotional even the level-headed Dr. Hermione Granger could be when it came to babies. He was positive she knew to how put his balls to better action than to hex them off, but the rest of him—he liked his nose the position it was in.

-DHDHDHDHDHDHDH-

"Draco? Oh, he isn't here, I see." Jackie balked into Hermione's lab without knocking. That was her first mistake. Hermione turned around, swishing her wand to magically mask her notes of the case as books, which were now labelled with nonsensical names, like 'Here and back again – by Bilbo Baggins', 'Hitchhiker's Guide', or, her favourite, 'Twenty soft spots on D.L.M.'s body by H.G. Slutmeister'.

"Neurology. Studious as ever, I see." The blonde scanned Hermione's work for a second. "Have you seen Draco by chance?"

"No." ' _That was a lie!_ ' her Gryffindor-conscious yelled. ' _Shh, let me do this, yes?'_ her inner slut had engaged in a cooperation with the alpha-female.

"Do you need anything else? I have work to do before I leave for Malfoy Manor."

Jackie froze for a second. "Oh, going to the library - of course. Make sure you refresh your deafening spells, because I'm going to surprise Draco tonight and I'm telling you, this man is quite vocal in _certain activities_."

Hermione seethed inwardly. Not that she was exactly nervous, because she trusted Draco in his intent to be exclusive. Though she wanted the other witch to stay away from him. But to assume that she wasn't firm in any spells – that was her second mistake.

"I doubt that I'll need it. We're doing some research in the library, and he simply knows it best." She tried to be reasonable, though for everyone who knew her, a warning could be heard in her tone.

"I've been there several times. But I wouldn't call the things we did there on the desks bookish. I will give him some time to help you, though I doubt Draco will read one book in there. The library can be very scary with those dark magics resonating in it, especially for muggle-borns like you." Jackie laughed haughtily.

Assuming the war heroine was scared of books combined with the latter remark marked her third mistake. That was enough. ' _Alright, go out and play_ ,' The Gryffindor granted the inner slut/alpha-female in Hermione's head. She got up from her office chair and walked towards Jackie, stopping at an arm's length in front of her.

"Listen, Jackie, and listen well. I know it is difficult to understand, especially for a woman like you. One of the first things I learned about Draco Malfoy, was that he is intelligent. And shockingly so. I bet while you were bent over one of the desks in the manor's library, he read Ovid's 'Metamorphoses', you know, one of the ancient transfiguration books that found their way to the muggle literature, in Latin. And still he mastered to satisfy your meek fantasies. But that doesn't matter now. All you need to save in your under-used neocortex is one piece of information: Hands off Draco."

Jackie was shocked into silence. She surely hadn't taken this reaction into consideration when she entered the lab.

"Have a nice evening. Perhaps you should spend it with a book." With that, Hermione settled down on her chair again, back to Jackie. She heard the other witch breath heavily, and wrapped her hand around her wand in the case the blonde would attack from behind. But then, ruffling noises indicated that Jackie had retreated to the door. Hermione knew she enjoyed this power-play a bit too much, but—to Hell with being nice! She added, "Oh, just for the sake of completeness,"- insert dramatically pause- "I happen to know from experience how vocal Draco can be in certain activities. My ears are still ringing from our session in the broom cupboard an hour ago."

The Gryffindor in her, the inner slut, and the alpha-female toasted towards each other with champagne - or, rather, Cabernet Sauvignon- when Jackie slammed the door close.

 **P.S.: Some of you may say, Hermione is totally OOC. That maybe right. But remember, she punched Draco in PoA. And it was simply fun to write. I also would like to recommend MrBenzedrine's one-shot Pitch - she wrote it on a whim, and still it's tons better than I could ever do! Also (again) Jaqueline Noir's Carnal Knowledge, because she is such a brave author, read and you will understand. Unhinged and Anonymity by writerspassion18 are stories from one author- and both brilliant! And yay! WayMay updated Empire! Read it, yes?**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Okay, this one took me a bit longer to write, because... work. Super special thanks to MrBenzedrine, just because she is the best! No,really! Further thanks to: pgoodrichboggs (magical Viagra, lol!), Knowinsight (Cookie? Double-chocolate, please!), Jaqueline Noir (your review made me so happy, thanks!), Green Eyed Lana Lee (thanks for the PM, and I loved writing the slut/Alpha!), IWasn'tTalkingToYou (of couuuuuurse!), Dramione shipper17 (I firmly believe we all have one!), minniemousemom (mhhh, perhaps?), APeaceOfPie4Everybody011 (never tried docile ;), Grovek26 (just very briefly ;)); IGOTEAMEDWARD (I'm sure MrBenzedrine is welcome), HarryPGinnyW4eva (soooo blushing at the compliments!), zoesheppard (patience...), EvenNotOdd (here it is!), Vanessa85 (welcome as alsways!), echiprwth (well, Slutmeister was totally MrBenzedrine's input, the rest...no idea).**

 **Some important bits before you read:**

 **\- Sam Wallflower translated something into Spanish at my request. It's indirectly translated in the speech. You are FANTASTIC, Iris!**

 **\- hic est draconem, Latin; originally: hic sunt draconis = here be dragons; sometimes used on old maps to indicate unknown and dangerous territory, adapted for one particular dragon**

After work, Hermione stopped at her home, shortly, changed and flooed to Malfoy Manor. When she brushed off the soot from her clothes, she smiled at the waiting Draco.

"You should probably close off the floo-connection and the other entrances," Hermione confessed her dubious behaviour in a rush. "We don't need unwanted visitors tonight, do we? Because I'm not entirely sure Jackie got the hint." Draco looked at her, questioning. "She came into my lab and attacked my personality, and yours- I may have reacted a bit… _territorial_ concerning you. And insulted her intelligence. And was mean in general."

"How are you feeling about that?" he asked, pondering if that was one of the incidents where women didn't really want to hear what their respective other thought. He was new in this business, after all.

Her mischievous grin dispelled his concerns rapidly. "Very… Slytherin? Malfoy-ish? I'm not certain how to differentiate between those two."

Then, Draco gave one of his private and infectious laughs, and Hermione laughed along with him. "If something reveals that Jackie didn't attend Hogwarts, it is the fact she offended you. Though I have to admit, it took me years to learn that particular lesson!"

After a thorough 'greeting' that left them both panting and with swollen lips, they made their way to the dining room for dinner. Again, Hermione wondrously took in all the changes that had occurred in the Manor since the war. But one question wouldn't leave her.

"What happened to the drawing room?" She knew there was no need to explain her asking about that particular room. The reaction on Draco's face exposed the pain and sadness he still connected with the terrible and fateful night at the heights of the war. It was Draco's lowest point to stand by the side, helpless, frozen in fear, when Hermione had been tortured in his house. Of course, there wasn't a friendship, not even respect between the two teenagers when she screamed and writhed under his aunt's insanity. Nonetheless, he always knew Hermione Granger was life; a strong and free will (that drove him crazy, _period_ ) and to see her so bloodied, but never broken, devastated him. Draco decided later that night, after he had been punished by his father for his faults, that he had to redeem himself somehow, and that he wanted to become an Auror. Because he never doubted for a second that Potter and his infuriating number of supporters would win.

Drawing himself from his thoughts, he answered her. "First, it was Seamused." Upon Hermione's confused glance, he explained, "I asked Seamus Finnigan for help. He put his unique talents to blow everything up into economic use to found a firm specializing in cleaning rooms, or houses, from dark magic. In our case, he blew the whole room up to its foundations."

The witch walking beside him was astonished – not because of Seamus' creativeness, but at the fact Draco had asked someone for help.

"Afterwards, we made an indoor-arboretum with exotic plants out of it. Don't look at me like that. I thought it was the best way to exorcise the darkness and replace it with life—mgnhh." The rest of his sentences was smothered by her hair, as Hermione had thrown herself at him, peppering kisses along his face, finishing at his lips. The pecking changed into fully blown kisses, which grew into a fabulous making out session. Draco pressed Hermione into the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist and his downstairs' appraisal of the situation nestled firmly against her lady bits. Eventaully, he ceased the joyous activities.

"Uh, Hermione, we should stop for now. I really, really want to take you right here and now until your eyes cross, but I know you're going to kill me if we don't get some research done."

His flustered expression, paired with the conflict of his reasonable words and his unconsciously rocking hips made Hermione break out into giggles. She set placed her feet on the ground and gave him another chaste kiss.

"Yes, that sounds definitely like something I'd do… you are forgiven."

-OoOoooooooOoooOoooOoooOooo-

"This is so unfair!" were Hermione's first words when the magnificent mahogany doors to the Malfoy library opened by magic.

"Alright little witch, you really destroying my intentions to awe you with the grandness of my possessions," Draco intoned ironically. But she was so fascinated by the rows and rows of leather bound tomes that oozed history and the distinctive scent of powerful knowledge that she didn't even get his innuendo.

She gestured with her hands, uncoordinated, in all directions. "Noooo, it's… and here….oh, you have… and grew up here…." She paused to collect herself. "Let's put it like this: If I wasn't so captured by your eyes every time you look into mine and rather like the skin-to-skin-contact we have, I'd ask out this piece of Malfoy immediately!"

Draco chuckled, walking over to a huge wooden desk, where several books were arranged; he knew, standing in concurrence to a library, was an epic compliment coming out of the woman's mouth.

"Oh, then I'm afraid I'm losing the upper hand, but I already picked some of the most promising books and checked them for unfriendly leftovers –curses, jinxes, pieces of Voldemort's soul. The standard when working here." Hermione's blink was the only indication that she indeed listened to him, as she already sat down and grabbed a book. He snapped his fingers in front of her face, which made her flinch, but her huge eyes focused on him for a second.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Draco wanted to know.

"Everything on Polyjuice we don't already know: Lost potential on ingredients, options to change the effect, and so on. Please colour-code your notes while reading, yes?" She was lost in the book, whose spine read ' _Most Potente Potency Potions'_ , exactly one second later.

Reading and colour-code he did (who was he to contradict Hermione Granger in a library?). They worked themselves into a frenzy for hours, tossed ideas and theories back and forth, interrupted only by the occasional kiss and the tea brought by a house-elf. At some point, they moved from the desk to the sofa by the fireplace. Hermione could never resist the idea to read in front of a roaring fire, and now it was even cosier with handsome company. Well, currently sleeping handsome company. Draco had succumbed to his tiredness half an hour ago, and rested his head on her lap, his platinum bangs falling softly over his eyes. Hermione had learned many things about the man; that his night could consist of three 's' (sleep, sex, sweets), but studying wasn't one of them. Though, when she had to rearrange her legs, because they started to numb, he woke up with a jolt. "Whazzz going un?" he mumbled sleepily.

 _'_ _Had I been sorted into Slytherin, I'd never been able to resist him,'_ she thought upon the sight of him. _'_ _Sadly, he's fully clothed.'_ Her inner slut had been dormant until now after her stage premiere this afternoon. She genuinely wanted to sum up their findings, but it made no sense when he was in this adorable, but mindless, state. They planned to visit Blaise Zabini in the Malfoy's potions branch next morning in order to ask him for his professional opinion.

"I should head home, Draco. And you should go to bed." She gently pulled him up from the sofa. Not coherent enough to form actual words, Draco interlaced their fingers of one hand and led her through the hallways of Malfoy Manor. Hermione fully expected him to guide her to a floo-connection, but instead she found herself in Draco's bedroom. Still not bothering to speak with her, the blond flicked his wand with one eye closed, transfiguring her blouse into a flimsy short nightgown and vanishing the rest of her clothes—including her underwear. "What the heck?" she started, when he applied the same spell on himself, leaving him in pyjama bottoms and her distracted at the sight of him half bare. He enveloped her in his warm embrace, pulling her under the covers with him. Hermione's last thoughts before she drifted off, were _'_ _Patting a hippogriff or saying something nice to a Gryffindor—that was impossible for the Malfoy of the past. Difficult magic performed when more than half asleep or respecting my wishes—that's the Draco I'm falling in love with. Hard._ '

Draco Malfoy was hot. Now, there were many, many witches affirming that, but Hermione knew better: He was not only an overly attractive male, he also emitted heat like a small sun. And she bathed deep in the sun's corona when she woke up, because he held her securely against him with his strong arm. She used the other as a comfortable, but a bit hard, pillow. Soon, she started sweating and wanted to free herself from his grip. She wriggled a little, hoping not to wake him with her movements. He didn't stir, but he didn't let go either. She wriggled again, more decisively—and when her bum brushed against his loins, she noticed, with a smile, that _some_ parts of him _were_ already awake and ready for action.

Hermione's inner slut didn't even yawn or ask for a coffee. ' _You know where everything is, let's start without him, he can join us later.'_ But she gave him one last chance to wake up. She tilted her pelvis back towards him, pushing slightly against his hard member, and rubbed herself against him.

This made her realise that the heat found another source between her legs. Draco gave a sleepy, but rejoicing sound. He woke up slowly, and Hermione could swear she heard him smile.

Now it was his turn to join the game which, when played fair and in blissful ignorance of all rule, both of them could win. He stretched against her, flexing the muscles in his whole body, causing his chest to press into her back. His hands perceived the opportunity to palm around Hermione's breasts. The sudden warmth, even when intercepted by her flimsy white nightgown, made her sigh.

"Good morning, my little witch," Draco mumbled huskily, his nose nuzzling behind her ear.

"Morning, Draco," she answered quietly and wanted to turn around, wanted to kiss him properly to greet the day.

"Ah-ah. Stay like that." She heard the rustle of fabric and then he threw his right leg over her hip and stilled her effectively, riding up the white cotton that had covered her until then. The cool air that met her skin remembered her that Draco had charmed the underwear from her. Literally. The coiling desire in her veins told her she would have dropped her knickers now at the very latest, as his freed cock snuggled between her cheeks invitingly and he whispered, "Please," as an afterthought.

Hermione arched her back, her hand reaching behind her. _'_ _Oh, he's ticklish there. Adorable_.' She thought when her fingers lightly touched the skin between his inner hip and—' _Found it_.'

A sinful sigh next to her shoulder accompanied the curling of her fingers around his penis. There was no need to stroke him into readiness, judging by the velvet steel pushing against her hand. Though, she pumped him twice, teasingly.

"When you keep that up, I'm going to sully your perfect little arse with my jizz." Draco wasn't too proud to admit that his voice sounded desperate and wanting.

"Ah-ah. Another time." Hermione wanted to be slightly commanding, but she also submitted to her desire and with another slight change of angle and a gentle tug, she had him where she wanted:

inside her.

The initiate joining made them both moan, and Draco stayed buried deep in her wet heat for a time, not wanting to ruin the moment by the forceful rutting his body willed him to. When he started moving, he hooked his ankle around her leg, lifting hers a bit with his knee and opening her even more for him. He pulled out only a little, never leaving her pussy, only to invade her anew. Every gentle thrust, so he felt, took him deeper into her.

Hermione was in heaven. Something about this slow love-making turned her on even more than the excitement of the tryst in the broom cupboard. She interlaced the fingers of their left hands firmly, intensifying their intimate connection even more.

After what could have been minutes or decades, when just their low moans and sighs filled the room, Draco's seemingly forgotten fingers bared her breasts and circled around her nipples. An exquisite shudder ran through Hermione as an answer and encouraged her to rock with him.

The atmosphere changed into something more erratic. Draco thrusted faster now, feeling his orgasm nearing rapidly, especially when Hermione slipped her arm around his neck, her fingertips drawing small circles against his scalp. Wanting her to join him in completion, his hand left her breast with a parting tug at her nipple and wandered down, ghosting over her ribs and belly, to find a new home between her nether lips. He cupped her sex shortly, sending a jolt of lust through a moaning Hermione. Then his nimble fingers parted her, the wetness there no surprise for him as he felt it encompassing his cock every time he sunk into her. He moved more frantically now, helpless in the throes of passionate unity.

Hermione's ultimate end-of-all-sanity was when Draco stroked her clit with rapid, almost teasing fingers. She surrendered to her release, though she wanted to last this moment between them much longer. A feral moan escaped her lips, and her muscles pulsated around his hard length almost rhythmically. The first fluttering of her around him send Draco over the edge into white noise. His body still moved, sending his essence onto a hopeful, albeit disappointing journey into her most intimate depth.

They stayed embraced afterwards, whispering words of affection to each other. The rapid knocking of an owl's beak brought them back into a world where other people existed. Draco left the bed and gave Hermione a wonderful view of his backside, distracting her for a moment.

"Mh?" She intoned when she realised he had spoken to her.

"Blaise. He could arrange a meeting with us in two hours." He smiled at her as she stretched on his bed like a cat.

"You have milked me of everything I had to give for the moment, and I need to replace my fluids. What about a decent breakfast and a shower?"

An enthusiastic "Definitely!" was her answer.

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

The headquarters of the Malfoy's family business was as expensive and exclusive as expected, though much more modern than the Manor, meaning: Only about two centuries old. Draco moved around the building as if he owned the place- which he, technically, nearly did—, and strolled into Blaise's office after a single knock. Zabini got up from his leather office chair and stepped around his massive desk when Draco let Hermione into the middle of the vast room.

The dark skinned wizard opened his arms wide and gave the brunette a toothy smile. He was clad in a high-quality black suit like Draco, who had switched his Auror robes for the business attire. Hermione didn't mind. She always had a weakness for Draco in suits; it had her drool for him, even when she had desperately stored these disturbing thoughts away while at school.

"Granger!"

"Zabini." She greeted back.

"The rumours are true then, you are back indeed." He lowered his voice into a stage-whisper, "Blink twice when he kidnapped you!" Draco growled at his friend's childishness, but Blaise wanted to have nothing of it. "Oh, come on, mate. I had to read the letter you sent thrice before I understood that you and the Gryffindor Princess herself, indeed, work together."

Hermione scowled. "Gryffindor Princess? I never liked nor applied for that dubious title!" Blaise took her hand in his and pressed a kiss on it. Draco had his palm at the small of her back before he could reflect that Blaise simply followed the antique manners both of them were raised in.

"Why not? It's a perfect description for a lovely witch." The wizard addressed her with a deep view into her eyes.

Surprised at Draco's possessive growl that followed, Hermione spoke to Blaise, "Still don't like it. So, tell me, what have you been up to in the past years? Draco told me you established business corporations in Spain for the last weeks?"

The man vis-à-vis shaped his voice into something he must have thought seductive."He estado practicando con mi palo. Estoy seguro de que me puedes ayudar dándole de nuevo un toque británico."

Hermione rolled her eyes openly, as she often did when people underestimated her, and answered in perfect Spanish, "Debiste haber cogido carcoma si piensas que cambiaría su duro Espino", she pointed to Draco's crotch, "por tu blanda madera."

Draco was confused at the exchange, and even more so at Blaise's sharp intake of breath and his witch's open laughter. "What is going on here?" He demanded to know, and Hermione turned to him, explaining, "Your friend told me he'd been practising with his _stick_ and that he's sure I could help him giving it a 'British touch' again."

Draco wanted to strangle him, friend or not. His possessiveness wasn't as angry as with Krum, but nonetheless there. He wanted to bestow Hermione with another tattoo; he could picture 'hic est draconem' on her pubic mound vividly. But that would mean someone came so far to see her pubic mound. He had to think of a better way to show their exclusivity. Diamonds, perhaps?

"Before you _avada_ me, Draco, Granger answered that I must have caught a woodworm if I think she'd change your hard hawthorn for my softwood spruce!"

Draco laughed hard at that and gave Hermione a soft kiss on her cheek; she blushed quite charmingly at his open display of affection in front of his friend, having expected that Slytherins would be more secretive about this behaviour.

Blaise's clap ended her musings. "On with business, then! Draco only wrote that you have a case with a potion that most likely has been messed with." He walked them over to a sitting area, where they lowered themselves on soft white leather sofas, before Hermione answered.

"Correct. We've narrowed the list of the possible changed ingredients down to two by intensive research in the Manor's library. Leeches and fluxweed."

Blaise pondered her suggestions for some time, then answered, slowly, "The only potion I know, and of that are many, that involves both ingredients, is Polyjuice. Am I right?"

"I'm afraid that's confidential, Blaise. See it as a curious question by an interested doctor," Draco interjected and his friend nodded, conscious of the delicate situation they brought themselves in by consulting him.

"The interested doctor-" Hermione continued, "Thinks the leeches are not the first option. To mess with them, someone must have fed them beforehand with the substance in question. But the nervous system of invertebrates, which leeches are systemized into, works differently in focal points from that of the vertebrate, where we humans belong to."

"That leaves the fluxweed." Blaise concluded, his expression thoughtful. "Do you remember, when-" he started, but Draco interrupted him.

"-I already thought about that. But we only changed the amount of Dragon's horn and Angel's trumpet. We didn't mess with the fluxweed."

"We didn't- but I did."

Hermione grew impatient with the wizards' ramblings. "Enlighten me, I don't speak Slytherin."

"Ahem." Blaise cleared his throat. "Draco and I once messed with a certain potion before sixth year that had quite heavy side-effects," he confessed.

Hermione remembered. "Oh, I know about your blotched erection-ecstasy." Blaise's eyes widened at her admission first in surprise, then in amusement. Draco was sooo smitten by the famous know-it-all.

"Well, you see, I thought myself as Snape's successor with a talent at Potion's levelling Salazar Slytherin's. Not that it had any equivalent in the reality. But, nonetheless, I didn't put the usual picked-at-full-moon fluxweed into the potion. I decided to go for some which was picked up at the one night in the year that stands for pure sexuality in a teenage wizard's mind."

Before Blaise finished, Hermione knew they had cracked the jackpot.

"Beltane."

 **P.S.: For those of you who want to know what Beltane is: look it up and/or wait for the next chapter, some things are explained there.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Wow, still so many People interested in my story! The biggest thanks goes to the fantastic multi-writer MrBenzedrine, she can do magic with her words! Further thanks go to all of your reviewers: Grovek26 (thanks!), echiprwth (naughty tought!), pgoodrichboggs (a Diamond marker sounds nice, really!), KnowInsight (smirks back), Jaqueline Noir (I can't decide either ;)), Sam Wallflower (your reviews make me laugh so hard every time, they make my day!), IrishPrincess1987 (you deserve it, write on!), Dramione shipper17 (inner slut smirks back!), IWasn'tTalkingToYou (such an awesome review! That were more Information than I needed, but though: awesome!), Sassystarbuck09 (I am excited, too! thanks!), HarryPGinnyW4eva (so glad I made you giggle), IGOTEAMEDWARD (you're welcome), EvenNotOdd (read and you'll see), zoeshappard, mega700201 (absolutely welcome as always!), Slytherinvillain7 (You're back! Wonderful!), Hanable-13 (new favourite word: asshat!), happiness8000 (go, inner slut!).**

 **I made a totally EMBARRASSING mistake with my Latin, as LorindolTinuviel pointed out so kindly: There was a typo AND a grammatical mistake: It's 'hic sunt dracones' and 'hic est draco'! Eight years of Latin meesed up with one totally silly mistake (accusative and nominative being the same isn't an excuse in a sentences as simple as that!**

"Heavens, Blaise, I know it's not the first time I've said this, but it's too _hard_ to resist: I'm glad you Slytherins _cocked_ up. Simply too funny not to say again." Hermione cracked a smile at the two men.

"Do you, now?" Zabini asked, intrigued. "I'm sure the – what shall I call you instead of Gryffindor Princess? – the _Slytherin Prince_ 's wand-holster," Hermione snorted at that, Draco smirked, "can come up with an explanation."

"Mmh, indeed. You know, in potions it can be essential _when_ a certain plant is picked, as the magic in the environment channels into the ingredient?"

Draco rolled his eyes at Hermione's question, a habit he adapted from the very witch he had fucked into the mattress this morning. More specifically, he had rocked her to orgasm. Okay, maybe they made love. The alpha-male in him threw a temper for the brief moment at the thought of the L-word.

Blaise, though, didn't hold back and gestured to himself and Draco with his hands. "Hello? We practically slept with the 'Severus Snape guide to 'bottle fame and brew glory'- the not-so-dunderheads version' under our pillows at Hogwarts."

"That may be. But did you actually _read_ it?" Hermione smirked. Blaise was so easy to play. "Anyway, that's the key to wake Harry and perhaps also to generally counter the drug." She looked into two aristocratic faces who attempted to feign understanding.

"Boys, really! Beltane is the Celtic holiday in May to celebrate the beginning of summer, right? It stands for fertility, sexuality, the creation of life; you said so, yourself. Magic is buzzing that night, sometimes even visible for muggles; the garden gnomes they designate as fairies, for example. There are lots of ancient rites surrounding Beltane, and, in both worlds, the birth rates increase significantly nine months later in the wizarding and muggle world, mind you."

Draco blinked to clear his head of visions of Hermione dancing naked, flowers in her hair, then shagging her to the sound of drums in a warm forest as if they were the God and Goddess themselves, and concentrated _hard_ to listen to her.

"Fluxweed, as inconspicuous as it looks, soaks up the essence of magic, and this vibe is conserved when the plant is picked and used for the potion." Now it dawned on Draco.

"Sweet baby dragons!" he exclaimed, "The fluxweed in the Polyjuice alters the aftereffect of it. It causes the magical high in Morgana's Touch!"

Hermione smiled, almost smugly. "See, your brain still works. All fluids refilled."

Blaise was too confused to notice the not-so-subtle flirting. "Why are you so happy about that? You identified the problem, not the solution."

Hermione huffed. For her, all things were crystal clear now. "The point is that Beltane has a counterpart: Samhain in November; also called Halloween, for me still the _trollish_ holiday. It's often associated with death and darkness, while Beltane is light and life."

Draco immediately translated the information to the case. "You think, fluxweed picked up at Samhain caused the effect the drug had on Potter?" Hermione nodded her head, and in it her inner slut connected with her intellectual self, creating a resemblance of a naughty librarian. ' _This is the first man that can keep up with your thinking AND makes you orgasm like a super-nova erupting. You should hold tight to him.'_

"I do. One version of the mixture contains our as THC polyjuiced cocaine with the Beltane-fluxweed; a dangerous drug is the outcome. The second version contains the same Polyjuice base, only with Samhain-fluxweed, and that makes a potentially deadly weapon. It drains the brain of almost all magic and sent Harry into coma. Both alternatives to the normally used fluxweed allow the cocaine to change into THC for some time. The effect ceases, but the Beltane fire still burns, so to speak. The fluxweed is our third substance, the missing link."

Draco seemed accordingly impressed - and a bit hard downstairs by the repeated show-off of her brilliant mind.

"And though I'm more a friend of actual facts, which we're obviously lacking here, fighting fire with fire has the potential to work for us," The witch concluded, thinking of the many transmitters and toxics that countered each other.

"Meaning?" Blaise wanted to know, even if he just understood a fraction of their story.

"Meaning that it could wake Harry if we apply Beltane-fluxweed on him. Give me some time at the lab, and I will find out."

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

"Damn, where is… I'm sure it was…" Hermione rummaged through the files, muttering to herself like every brilliant person did. Currently, she was searching for the first records. The preparations for the antidote that should be helping Harry had been remarkably easy for someone with a medical background. The only thing she wanted to check was if the administered dose changed over the recorded time, thus Hermione needed the length of the first publicly known magical high. It could help to estimate the best dosage of Harry's medication.

"Ah, here it is." She pulled the file from under a stack of paper and started to read. 'Morgana's Touch- 1: Following a documented atypical bedroom-activity, the subject (Georgie Brown, 27yrs, male) reacts with an extreme outing of magical prowess, though he isn't normally that capable. Examples: Third order spells. Documentation: J. Stevens'

Hermione was surprised. Georgie had been the first addict? And he was still running around free until Draco's team captured him? She picked up his interrogation-protocol.

' _Auror H. Potter: "Your name is Georgie Brown?"_

 _G.B.: "Y-yes."_

 _H.P.: "Related to Lavender Weasley, nee Brown?"_

 _G.B.: "M-my cousin twice removed. Or maybe once. Not sure. Barely know her."_

 _H.P.: "Did you attend Hogwarts?"_

 _G.B.: "No. My father thought it was too lenient. Sent me to Durmstrang." '_

Hermione scanned his biography and less than mediocre career, up to the point where he had contact to the drug, seemingly because of his girlfriend.

' _G.B.: "You don't understand. She said it would be fun. That it would be a turn-on, better than every other aphrodisiac she had tried. And that it would make me powerful."_

 _H.P.: "What about the dangerous potential?"_

 _G.B.: "You don't understand! She wanted to leave me. Said she had her eyes on some co-worker. Blond. Handsome. Powerful. Rich."_

 _H.P.: "How did your girlfriend experience the effect of the drug?"_

 _G.B.: "I'm not sure if she took it."_

 _H.P.: "But she described it to you."_

 _G.B.: "Yes. She said it was as if I was kissed by a Goddess. That it was as if being touched by Morgana. But I disappointed her. Every time she gave it to me."_

 _H.P.: "How do you know?"_

 _G.B.: "She told me it was over. And then apparated me away to Diagon Alley."_

 _H.P.: "What's her name?"_

 _G.B.: "I…. I don't know… it's all so hazy."_

A cold shiver ran down Hermione's spine. Harry's report stated that Georgie had been imperfectly obliviated and the search for his girlfriend had been fruitless. But something disturbed her. She arranged both files, the medical and the investigative, next to each other; read them again, and a third and fourth time, and couldn't shake the feeling that she oversaw a detail. She closed her eyes, breathed in and out, and opened them. It was a technique she discovered for herself for cases like this, when she was lost but had the gut feeling that something was amiss. Hermione looked at the files, and her first view fell on the date.

"Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!" The brunette witch yelled, subconsciously quoting her favourite female fictional character. Which Hermione loved because of her stubbornness, her profession and her uh, appreciation of physicality in a relationship. Though, what caused her to swear loudly was the fact that—

"You found out, didn't you?" A cool female voice thundered behind her, and Hermione felt a wand's tip resting firmly and threatening at her neck. Her heartbeat accelerated. She hadn't been at wand point since, well, since the war. And that hadn't ended well for her opponent.

"What did I find out, Jackie? That your report is dated one day earlier than Harry's? That it was _you_ who named the drug? That you obliviated Georgie after you forced him to take the drug?" She kept her voice controlled, though she remembered she had placed her own wand next to the preparation table, where she had checked the purity of the Beltane-fluxweed and gotten distracted by the question of the correct dosage.

The other witch turned her around forcefully, grabbing her wrists and clicking handcuffs around them without giving Hermione the opportunity to react.

"That you're smarter than it's good for you, apparently," the blonde seethed. "Oh, and wandless magic won't work," Jackie menacingly explained as Hermione opened her palm to summon her vine wood wand. "I nicked these magic-dampening handcuffs from Draco when he bound me to the bed one time." Okay, now Hermione knew for sure the other woman wanted to provoke her. Draco and she had a conversation about bonding play and other kinky stuff, which ended up in the realisation that he wasn't into that particular game and had other preferences. They christened Lucius' old desk nonetheless.

"You were Georgie's girlfriend! And Draco is the man you had an eye on!" While accusing the other witch loudly, Hermione inched closer to her desk. She had already solved that riddle, but wanted to keep Jackie occupied. "Let me guess, the wine at the Quidditch fundraiser; it was you who slipped the drug into it? Quite a smooth move."

Jackie's eyes shimmered viciously. "Yes, of course it was me. It would have been the perfect time, my temperature peaked that very evening."

Hermione gasped and nearly forgot her plan to escape. "You wanted to fall pregnant!" She didn't tell the crazy bitch that it was actually _before_ the temperature rise that the chances for conception were the highest.

The blonde nodded her head. "Though, that was more of an emergency plan. I wanted him. The whole package: love, courting, marriage. I put all my charm into it. But all he wanted was rolling around the sheets."

On some level, Hermione felt pity for Jackie. Unrequited love was always nasty, and Draco had certainly been a playboy.

"Then it came to me: I could have him, even if it wasn't exactly love at first sight for him. All I had to do is fall pregnant with his child. The pureblood customs require a marriage then, we don't want to have our heirs and heiresses be born without a proper name." Twisted logic, but logic nonetheless, Hermione realised.

Blue eyes pierced into brown ones when Jackie stepped closer to Hermione and suddenly gripped a handful of her brown curls, pulling at them brutally. Oh, how that hurt! But Hermione held the woman's gaze, her cuffed hands carefully pulling at the top drawer's handle. ' _Just one inch more to the left…'_

"But then YOU came back from your muggle-hole, the almighty and precious Golden Girl from Hogwarts, the brains behind the Dark Lord's downfall. Draco only talked about you, 'Granger thinks this, Granger's brilliant mind found out that….'. And on the evening when he should forget about you and be more than willing to sleep with me, he ran away looking for you when he felt dizzy." Another pull on her scalp caused Hermione to stumble, and she leaned back to gain balance. That brought her the crucial distance! She wrapped her fingers around the object and only prayed it was one of the versions one could use with only one hand, because she couldn't spread her hands far enough otherwise. ' _Thank Merlin I wrote the good ones on my list!'_ She hid the object in her sleeve, though Jackie was concentrated more on pointing her wand at Hermione's throat while keeping the tight grip on her hair. ' _Make small-talk before you narcotize the patient. It helps keeping him focused on you rather than your actions,'_ The former Gryffindor recited in her head. ' _Pureblood, using 'Dark Lord' instead of Voldemort, adapt at dubious magic – that could work.'_

"By the way, did you visit Durmstrang?" She asked conversationally, preparing the object in her hand for use. And the dumb witch really fell for it.

"Yes… why are you asking?" Jackie's voice convicted a bit suspicion.

"Oh, I heard they had an interesting book about the mix-up of Morpheus and Hypnos."

' _Girl, did you have to come up with a book? You could have told her that you've had sex with a famous Durmstrang AND the Slytherin Prince! That's one bad boy screwed more than her!_ ' her inner slut chastised almost bored, trusting in her ability to master the situation.

"Shall I tell you the beginning?" With a swift and forceful move upwards, Hermione rammed the waiting syringe into Jackie's thigh an injected the liquid with a hefty push through the witch's clothes. That wasn't the ideal way of application, but there was no room for details now. The blonde gave a surprised and pained cry- and sacked down on the floor.

And of course THAT was the exact moment when Draco opened the door, his arms full of small white boxes. He opened his mouth to speak, but then his eyes assessed the situation: Hermione – Jackie on the floor – Hermione's handcuffed hands – no immediate danger. The wizard gave a relieved sigh.

"What did you do to her?" He wasn't reproachful, just very curious, especially as he spotted Hermione's wand on the table next to him.

She answered him while he placed the boxes with the Thai food next to the wand and freed her hands from the handcuffs. "Nothing too nasty. Propofol, which is a muggle narcotic. Though I took a page from her book and magically pushed a bit. I thought it useful in encounters with addicts on magical high. It works very, very fast now. She's going to wake in about twenty minutes. Hopefully."

Draco smirked at her ingenuity and cunning. Then, he fastened the handcuffs around Jackie's hands and put her wand securely into his work robes.

A short memo alarmed his colleagues, who brought the still sleeping villain to a cozy cell.

"Now, I'm sure you're bursting to tell me the story behind all this?" he asked when it was all over.

Hermione gestured to the waiting boxes, which had a red dragon printed on them. "I am, indeed. But could I explain over lunch? This smells divine, and you know I like my dragon hot." 

**P.S.: You should definitely check out MrBenzedrine's Bond (complete now!) and Senses (fantastic writing style!), WayMay's Empire (hilarious and brilliant!), and writerspassion18's Anonymity (Pleasure!), and Jaqueline Noirs's Carnal Knowledge (something else), all stories have been updated recently!**


	14. Chapter 14

**7/N: Thank you sooo much for keeping reading and reviewing my story! Biggest THANK YOU as usual goes to MrBenzedrine, the bestest beta in the world! *Damn, he's struggling! I can't get the ribbon fastened...*wink*. Further thanks go to: KnowInsight (totally right! classic villain!), Guest (wondered with MrBenzedrine if anyone got the irony in Sweet Baby Dragons in Sex Ed... it was the ultimate Easter Egg for me!), Vanessa85 (soon enough?), Sam Wallflower (didn't like Jackie either ;) and such a FANTASTIC fanart you created!), Hanable-13 (hope some things clear up for you with this one), zoesheppard (totally eye roll!), Green Eyed Lana Lee (staking her claim, brilliant!), mega700201 (I honestly appreciate every single review, a simple thank you sometimes is more meaninful than anything else, so THANKS!), EvenNotOdd (wishing you luck with the beta!), LorindolTinuviel (going to answer your PM later, I totally enjoy the communication), IWasn'tTalkingToYou (you'll get another glimpse of the dragon here...), echiprwth (you gotta tell me one day what your penname means), I was BOTW (glad you still like the snark!).**

"Have you got everything you need?" Draco asked as he and Hermione prepared for Harry's treatment after lunch. "Antidote, scrubs, stethoscope…, wait, the papers!" She rushed over to the desk, where the papers still lay in chaos. She rummaged through them in an attempt to filter all the important ones, when her eyes fell on a letter. "Oh… I almost forgot!"

"Forgot what? I guess your _mind_ is filled with so many important things…" Draco teased, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind; then he spotted the name at the end of the letter. "Krum!" Anger bubbled inside him. Hadn't he told off the other wizard?

Hermione half-turned around, explaining, "Yes, he sent me this letter yesterday. Asking if I wanted to meet him for tea." Her voice was neutral, but inside, a not-so-little part of her cheered at the barely controlled jealousy in Draco's posture. Of course, she didn't want to meet the Bulgarian; she realised that the blond wizard next to her had taken residency not only in her body, but also in her heart, and she thoroughly wanted to explore all aspects of their relationship with him. _'_ _And every available surface in the giant manor!'_ the inner slut voiced her opinion.

Draco didn't react directly. Moreover, he tightened the grip on her, his fingers ghosting over the spot he wanted her to be marked with a new tattoo. And boy, did he enjoy the shiver the touch caused in her body, and they were both fully clothed! "Did you know that one of my ancestors killed a Queen's cousin because he dared to look at his intended for too long?"

Hermione didn't feel intimidated by his dark growling in her ear, but quite the opposite. However, the doctor/healer in her urged her to help Harry and _not_ to drop her knickers on the spot. So, she gave Draco a chaste kiss on the lips and walked to the door. "I always knew it: You come from a long line of spoiled and possessive brats!" she smiled and winked, leaving the Auror behind.

Draco gave an irritated sigh and muttered to his half-awake dragon between his legs, " _We're so going to show her how possessive I am. Not only her, but also all the poor gits out there who think they've got a chance with her!"_

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

"Ginny, you should be aware that this is basically unknown territory in wizarding and muggle medicine. It could potentially work, but it could also do more damage to Harry's brain." Hermione needed Ginny to understand that her husband's cure wasn't guaranteed.

The redhead's expression filled with concern, again holding Harry's hand. "I know, Hermione. But if I understand you correctly, what you're going to give him is basically the same substance that caused his coma? Won't that make him an addict or something?"

The brunette was in full professional mode now, which was essential for her. She needed to compartmentalize her actions from the emotions that coursed through her in anxiety for her former friend. There was always a risk in medicine, especially when it came to sensible body parts, and the brain was the most delicate, but also the most surprising one of all.

"It won't make him an addict. I measured the dosage of the Beltane-fluxweed quite low, even lower in relation to what Draco and I were exposed to." She ignored the other woman's shocked gasp upon learning about her and Draco's drug experience. No wasn't the time for storytelling. "Our theory is that Harry's brain needs a magical kick-start, and the most efficient way we could come up with was using the counterpart of the growth that is responsible for his current state." She gave Ginny an encouraging nod. "Shall we start now? Don't be afraid when his body starts convulsing; that can happen if the nervous system runs a check-up. Okay? I'm observing his vital signs all the time." With a last glance at a professionally calm and serious Draco, who stood slightly behind Ginny in case she needed to be removed from the scene, Hermione applied the fluxweed-solution to Harry's bloodstream over a venous access she had installed before. For some moments, nothing happened.

Then, suddenly, Harry's body started to convulse heavily, his limbs shaking. They knew that this could happen, though Ginny gave a pained whimper and turned around to hide her face in Draco's shoulder. For half a minute, all that could be heard in the room was the rattling of the bed that shook with Harry's movements. When it stopped, a relieved sigh sounded from Ginny's lips. She leaned towards her pale and unmoving husband again, awaiting him to finally wake up, when Hermione cursed, her eyes on the now erratic beeping magical heart monitor over the bed.

"Shit! He has ventricular fibrillation." She pushed the red button next to the monitor to alert help- she needed professional assistance. "Draco, get Ginny out of here!" she commanded, and the blond did exactly that and guided the now crying witch out of the room as a Healer rushed in.

Focusing on her patient and pulling her wand, she addressed the scrubs-clad Healer, immediately, "I'm doing a defibrillator-spell, you monitor his heart." After eying the monitor for a second, the man agreed with a barked, "Yes!" and Hermione flicked her wand in a short and vigorous move over Harry's chest. The vinewood sent something like an electric jolt towards his heart.

No reaction.

"Come on, Harry, I still have to settle old scores with you! Dying would be the coward's way out!" she called out, wielding her wand a second time.

It worked. Hermione and the Healer concentrated on the monitor that showed Harry's heart falling into a regular rhythm again. She gripped the bed's railing, her own heartbeat slowed down, and when Ginny and Draco stormed into the room again as the Healer stepped aside, she gave them a relieved smile. "This sorry excuse of a world-saviour has a flare of the dramatic." Hermione observed the vital signs again, while Ginny stroked her husband's cheeks, which were slowly turning rosy again. "The parameters indicate that he's stirring."

As soon as the words left her lips, Harry's eyes fluttered open.

"Harry, can you hear me?" Ginny's voice was filled with tears, even more so when the wizard in questions croaked a hoarse, "Y-yes."

As happy as Hermione was to bring Harry back from coma, she knew her presence would irritate him a lot, and he didn't need that now. After some quietly spoken words to her colleague, who would check Harry further, she gently grabbed Draco's hand and left. Just as she closed the door behind them, Draco pulled her in for a heart-soaring kiss. Multiple kisses, in fact. Nuzzling her nose with his, he said, "You're amazing, little witch!" Draco was honestly impressed. This was the first time he had seen Hermione act in a life-or-death-situation, and the way she controlled it made her even sexier to him. Though, his alpha-male rolled his eyes at that and muttered, _'_ _Yeah, but she looks even better with her legs over my shoulders and sprawled on my bed.'_

Hermione chuckled between kisses. "Oh, I know. I'm pretty talented." Draco smirked at her confidence. Malfoys only settled for the best. "You earned yourself a tour through the arboretum and a dinner tonight, don't you think? Floo over at seven. Have things to do now." Without waiting for an answer, he released her from his embrace and left the pleasantly ruffled witch standing in the hospital hallway. She smiled at the way he walked away, a slight happy bounce in his steps.

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

The arboretum was a world of its own. Magically expanded, it contained vast space for all sorts of plants, magical and muggle. Flutterby bush, Sycamore, and many others grew here, along with more dangerous or exotic ones like Deadly Nightshade or Angel's Trumpet stretched their blossoms and leaves to the enchanted ceiling. Like in the Great Hall of Hogwarts it appeared like the sky outside, currently the moon shining into the room. The humidity of the plants, the chirping of birds that seemed to live here, the warmth, all which created an atmosphere humming of life and Hermione dove headfirst into it when she stepped through the doors.

"So…what do you think?" Draco, almost timidly, asked after he explained what he thought about every individual plant to the witch.

"This is so wonderful, the epitome of life replaced a theatre of war, quite poetic. The symbolism behind it makes me nearly forget the circumstance that I've been one of the main actors in the drama."

Draco gently traced the phoenix on Hermione's arm, which covered the scars from the day she was tortured by his aunt. "I will never forget," he whispered, his voice filled with heavy emotions.

The situation was in desperate need of something lighter, and this was why Hermione demanded, "You promised me dinner, Malfoy! Or are these plants all I get to eat?" Draco snorted and guided her over to a small lavishly laid table in between two majestic trees. Hermione was astonished. "Draco, did you hit your head again? Something so romantic is not what I had expected!"

The blond sheepishly admitted, "Maybe I asked Blaise for advice. My mother told me once: seduction is for shagging, romance for keeping the witch."

She smiled at the pink hue that tinted his pale cheeks and gave him a small kiss on the nose. "Your mother really said that?" Inwardly a recently established girly princess giggled and screeched ' _Did you pay attention? He wants to keep us!'_

"Mh, maybe she did say that when you run the don't-forget-contraception-I'm-too-young-to be-a-grandmother- and the pureblood-tradition-erase-filter over it." He arranged the chair for her and poured the wine, and, with a snap of his fingers, the food appeared. Over dinner, Draco explained to Hermione that the plants in the arboretum were picked after a list Snape had developed years ago for the creation of his own potions-plants garden on Hogwarts' grounds. "This way he was independent from deliveries which often were not up to his high standards."

"I'm sure he would have a blast with this drug. I wonder where Jackie got her ingredients from?" Hermione contemplated, "After all, you can't buy this special version of fluxweed, nor cannabis or cocaine while on a shopping trip in Diagon Alley."

Draco knew where her train of thoughts was leading, as he had the same. "Surely not. I agree with you: Jackie wasn't operating alone. Maybe she was the lab rat in it and had some personal goals to achieve, but she isn't the criminal mastermind behind all this. She's too- is 'intelligence-wise challenged' a fitting description?"

The irony dripping from his words made Hermione giggle, "You hit the nail on the head. Even the naming of the drug bore a mistake." Draco tried to appear knowing; in reality he had no idea what she was talking about, but he could always bring the distracting view of her low neckline forth as an excuse. "Morgana's Touch, pah! I mean, honestly, she apparently saw a connection between the Celtic calendar and its influence on the fluxweed. But the Morrigan is a much too complex goddess to be confused with Morgana Le Faye; the former plays different roles in the mythology, the latter only is part of the Arthur-myth. Two entirely different etymological backgrounds and personalities."

A second after he discovered the dark sparkle in her brown eyes, Draco felt a naked foot rubbing at his ankle. His inner alpha-male protested, _'_ _Oh, no, vixen! I generously granted you a dose of romance and softness, now it's my time to play.'_ Thanks to the floating candles around them, Hermione saw his grey eyes clouding with lust. With another snap of his fingers, he switched the table and chairs magically for a soft blanket, the sudden movement causing Hermione conveniently landing on top of him. He met no resistance when he placed her in his lap.

"If I remember correctly, the Morrigan is the Goddess of war, fertility and sexuality." He started placing soft kisses on the now exposed skin on her neck, causally playing with her curls with one hand. But the brunette wouldn't leave it, "Originally, the Irish mythology mentions a trinity, in which-"

"Shut it, Hermione." The seductive drawl in his voice melted her alpha-female for the moment, knowing it was more rewarding to be played sometimes than being the player. There was always another game. "I'm worshipping my own goddess, you shouldn't interrupt me." The tip of his tongue licked the sensitive point below her ear, and she gave an almost pleading sigh. He opened the zipper of her flowery dress, slipping the straps from her shoulders, replacing the fabric with his lips. At some point, Hermione closed her eyes in bliss, but she opened them once again as she felt something cool settling around her neck. She heard Draco behind her fastening a chain, and her fingers touched a pendant. Lifting it, she made out a beautiful work of craftsmanship: A silver Aesculapian staff, circled by a snake. However, it was not an ordinary snake that accompanied the ancient symbol of medicine and healing; this one consisted of deep green emeralds, which reflected the moonlight- and had a probably not-so-random resemblance with Slytherin's snake.

Her breathing hitched for a second. "What does this mean, Draco?"

"This is a token of my loyalty, Goddess. Isn't it to your liking?" he answered, all the while turning her around, causing her to straddle him, a quiet groan escaping him when her panty-clad core touched his growing erection.

"It's beautiful. But why this-"

He interrupted her again. "-Because a dragon-pendant hissing 'fuck off, she's mine; sincerely, Draco Malfoy' would cause a ruckus in the muggle world." Without waiting for her reaction, he lifted her dress over her head, leaving her only in her lacy white knickers—and the necklace, the snake now snugly resting between her breasts. Both of his arms reached around her, his hands resting flat on her shoulder blades when he lowered her on the floor. Slipping out of his shirt and trousers, he admired the sight of her, sprawled on the blanket, her hair falling like a halo around her head, the face flushed. _'_ _A goddess, indeed.'_ Her eyes rested on the unmistakable bulge in his boxers, commanding them to come off. And the believer he was, he followed her unspoken wishes and kneeled down naked beside her. "You're beautiful, Hermione." His lips closed around her nipple, one finger teasing the other.

"And I'm yours." Hermione answered, because it felt so- right. His teeth scraped over the sensible tip, sending a gush of wetness into her already dampened knickers. He chuckled when her hips lifted, pressing against his now south wandering hands. The chuckle switched into a deep moan when her fingers closed around his rock-hard cock.

"Don't tease me. Your Goddess wants an offering." A quick squeeze accompanied her wishes, bringing him already on the edge of losing control. And offer, he did. He kissed his way down to the juncture of her legs, his hands following, sneaking under the only piece of fabric left on their bodies. The smacking sound his ears met when one of his fingers dipped into her sweet cavern made him forget his name. With a decisive move, the offending fabric ripped. Where his fingers ghosted over his favoured spot for an inked marking this afternoon, his tongue set a wet trail on her sensible pubic mount. Hermione gripped his head reflexively, urging him to go lower. Parting her folds with his fingers, he gave her hooded clit a short, flat slap with his tongue. Hermione threw her head back with a moan that jolted straight to his loins. With gentle licking, nipping on her delicious labia and occasional, but forceful probing with his fingers in her pussy, Draco brought Hermione to the brink of orgasm. But seconds before she came, and her inner muscles already started shaking, he stopped his ministrations.

He glided over her heated body like the lindworm he was, and without interrupting his movement, sunk his length into her. The sudden fullness crashed the waves over her and her body succumbed into the dark and warm ecstasy that was Draco Malfoy. He didn't move though; he wanted her to be half-lucid for that, and so he rested in her, the convulsing tightness around his cock bringing him sweet torture. Seconds later, she opened her eyes again, her vision filled with his almost black orbs now. She pulled him down for a languid, almost lazy kiss, their tongues dancing, the only part of her bodies moving with each other. Deciding it was time to turn the tables and ready for more, she rolled them around with a strength that surprised him. With a joyous groan, she adjusted herself on him, taking him even deeper into her. He gave an impatient hiss and his hands gripped her hips, rocking her against him. But she resisted his guidance this time, prying his fingers away from her and pinning them over his head. Two could play this game of dominance, and now it was her gambit. She started to move slowly on him.

"Are you mine, Draco?" A guttural moan was her answer. She sensed he was so aroused that he wouldn't last long, giving her a feeling of unbridled power. Her hips sunk on him faster now, her breasts bouncing inches over his face, his gift sparkling between them. "I'm asking you again. Are. You. Mine?"

With a last move of resistance before he fell over the edge of orgasmic abandon, he lifted his head, hissing "Yesss!" and sucked on her left nipple. They came hard then, simultaneously moaning their release into the green heaven around them.

When she came to her senses again, Hermione found herself snuggled into Draco's chest, his arms encompassing her in a protective embrace, his now flaccid member still buried in her depth.

"I take it you like my offering?" Draco asked, grinning smugly and playing with the silver chain around her neck.

"Shall I tell you again?" Hermione jerked her hips a little, causing the handsome wizard between her legs to shift uncomfortably. "Uh- give me some minutes to recuperate before starting the next round?"

He summoned another blanket to wrap them in. She grinned, the inner slut dancing victory _'_ _Sex-God spent to the point he asks kindly for a break? Hell, yes!_ ' and high-fiving the alpha female _'_ _He's so ours!'._

"I'm afraid the next round has to wait for a bit, my dear son." The voice of Narcissa Malfoy doused over Hermione's head like a bucket of ice-cold water.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Thanks for still reading! Unmeasurable thanks go to MrBenzedrine, who found ' a shit ton of my mistakes'-over and over again. Our conversations are truly heart-warming for me! Responses to reviews an the bottom, because *rolls eyes and pouts* everybody does it this way.**

Realising the woman could hear, but not see them, Hermione jumped up and covered herself with the blanket. Draco tried to keep a cool demeanour, reaching for his discarded boxers and slipping them on. They could hear his mother's steps approaching fast, the heels clicking quickly on the floor. Hermione, on the other side, was definitely panicking. Standing in the former home of the woman, only covered by a thin blanket, wasn't exactly how she imagined to meet Narcissa Malfoy again. Admittedly, she had envisioned the encounter with Draco's mother to be strictly formal, and not involving her wearing an undoubtedly 'freshly fucked squirrel-expression' (Juliet's words). And what a happy squirrel she was.

"I honestly hope you didn't open one of the remaining Lafite-Rothschilds. It would be a shame to waste them on some cheap witch-" Narcissa stepped through the branches and trees, her eyes quickly scanning the interrupted _pas de deux_ in front of her.

"Well, Mother, she already spilled her blood here; I thought an expensive wine and a fantastic round of shagging was the least I could offer her." His words dripped of irony. _'_ _-For tonight. Not to forget a thoughtful piece of jewellery.'_

Narcissa looked like a deer in headlights for a split second before she fell back into the poised ambition which had made Lucius Malfoy go down on his knees. And _her,_ to Draco's utter horror. _Tha_ t had been a sight years ago he still wanted obliviated.

"Miss _Granger_ , what a—surprise. I hope you enjoyed your taste of something so rich-"

To Hermione, it was obvious she wasn't talking about the _wine_.

"If you would kindly excuse us? I've got business to discuss with my son, which is, if I may be so bold, not yours."

Draco winced. He feared for the precious plants around him that would burn in the surely upcoming duel.

"You are excused, _Narcissa_." Hermione stretched the blonde's given name, deliberately overstepping the boundaries of politeness. "It was delicious. The best I ever had. But I feel tired now and will head to bed. It's the third corridor on the left from here, isn't it, Draco?" She closed the distance to the dumfounded wizard next to her and gave him a kiss on his nose, what strangely appeared more intimate than on the lips. Her head held high, barefoot, and the blanket still clutched around her, the brunette witch strode out of the arboretum.

Draco was alone with his mother now, and just a tad intimidated in the face of the discussion that had to come up inevitably, in fact, he could already hear the words in his head; _'_ _What were you thinking? Fooling around with a mudblood in our house! And Hermione Granger on top! Why can't you find yourself an adequate pureblood to spread her legs! You better thought of a contraceptive-spell. I won't have disgusting half-blood, messy-haired children running around the Manor!'_

But, to his utter astonishment, Narcissa's lips curled into a distinguished and barely visible smile. "Well, better her than that dumb blonde who couldn't even remember to close her blouse's top buttons." If that wasn't enough to make his world crumble, she added, "Tell Miss Granger to meet me for tea in my office next week, yes?"

Draco didn't know where it came from, but he automatically corrected, "Actually, it's _Doctor_ Granger."

-DHDHDHDHDH-

"Can't you go without me? I mean, my job with him is done; he's awake, isn't he?" Hermione hovered in front of the familiar door in the wizarding hospital, a bit peeved Draco couldn't be there. After he talked with his mother the previous evening, he had come to bed with the cogs in his head turning. She had already been asleep when he crawled into his expensive sheets behind her, snuggling her until morning. It was hard for Hermione to admit, but waking up with a

Draco-blanket all around her was something she became used to very fast.

"Mione." She scowled at Ron's nickname for her. "You saved his life. Again. He won't curse you." She snorted. "Ron, that's not what I worry about. Harry may be a famous Auror and all, but I can still overpower him in a duel." A training session with Draco had proven that she was still very much capable. The Head Auror had tears in his eyes upon learning of her scores. "It's been easier to meet you again. You matured a great deal, and you admitted that you made mistakes. We're nowhere near our old friendship yet, but I feel—content around you." Ron beamed at her words. "Ginny has been more difficult, but Harry? He betrayed my trust, and essentially handed me over to a pack of angry foxes. I still don't regret what we did, but him, revealing our secret, and not standing up for what was our mutual decision— _that_ broke my heart. I've risked my life for him several times, but he can't admit he _wanted_ to have sex with me?"

Ron's face paled beneath his numerous freckles. "I know. We caused you pain because we were selfish and unreasonable. But so many years went by, and we've been inseparable once. Don't you think our friendship deserves another chance?"

Hermione realised something important then. "I _would_ give it another chance, though we aren't the same people anymore. Let's see where this discussion leads us too and how Harry's view is on things." With a move that was more decisive than she felt, Hermione opened the door but let Ron walk in first. From behind the tall redhead, she could see the third part of the Golden Trio, his back propped up by some pillows. He was still pale, but his eyes were wide open and directed at the incoming visitors.

"Ron, mate! So glad you came!"

Ron smiled at him and greeted him with a friendly slap on his shoulder. "Yeah, had nothing else to do at the joke shop. Still too early. But look who I brought with me!" He gently pulled Hermione from behind him, his hands supportive on the witch's arms.

"Hermione?" Harry's voice nearly broke. "Merlin, _you're_ the Doctor Ginny and the Healers have been telling me about? The one who found the antidote?" On Hermione's wish, her identity hadn't been revealed to him yet. She nodded her head, torn between the professional urge to check his condition and an emotional reaction; whether that'd be screaming or crying-she didn't know. Uncomfortable silence ensued.

"I should've come looking for you, to….to apologise, I guess," The Man-Who-Lived-Again mumbled awkwardly. Hermione glared on. Oh, she wanted him crawling in the dust. Okay, maybe she channelled her inner Slytherin a bit.

"I should've stood up for you, correct the impression I gave them. Not leaving them believing you seduced me." She waited half a minute to react, pondering if she could jump over own shadow and forgive him.

Summoning all her Gryffindor courage and a good dose of Hufflepuff loyalty, she spoke, albeit tense, "Damn right, Mr. Potter!" She straightened her back. "Did you know how hard it was for me to go back to the muggle world? How devastated I was? And how much chocolate I ate because of you two dunderheads? And then you have the outrageous insolence to get yourself nearly killed – _again_ I might add- in a way where only I could help you?"

She could hear the two men chuckle at her rant, which was so typical Hermione that it was ridiculous. Harry tugged on her arms then, forcing her to sit down on his bed and enveloped her in a strong hug. Ron placed himself behind her and together they shared an awkward minute of sobbing and back-patting. Hermione felt her heart healing again, though she hadn't thought it damaged anymore. She knew, of course, that they couldn't go back to point where they had been in the past, but that their friendship had to be built anew.

"Godric's pants, one could think you three are pregnant ladies with how emotional you behave, not me!" Ginny had entered the room without their notice. She appeared much more relaxed now, in fact, it was the first time Hermione saw her smiling again.

The brunette wiped her eyes from the tears that ran over her cheeks, and inquired Harry, "So, a fourth child- seems you're awfully busy, even behind closed doors." Harry blushed at Hermione's remark. ' _Ha! Hit the target four times and STILL blushes at the mentioning. And they called me a prude when at Hogwarts!'_ she thought.

"I'm actually quite proud of them all. Lily turns three this month, and she and the baby will have a good distance in age, you know? The boys don't know yet, but I'm sure they will love their new sibling from the start." Ginny beamed at him now, her fears of Harry's reaction clearly had vanished, making space for happiness. "And Ron and Lavender are also working on their third child," now it was Ron's turn to blush, "And it would be nice if there's a cousin in his or her year at Hogwarts, wouldn't it?" He paused his embarrassed rambling. "But what about you, Hermione? Have you got children? Or a husband? I have no idea what's going on in your life!"

"No to both questions, I was married to my work and couldn't imagine having children with anyone in the past years." Somehow, this felt less to her now.

"A boyfriend, then? Or a girlfriend?" Ron asked.

Third member of the Golden Trio with a pink flush on its face? Check.

"Well, uhmmm. There is a man in my life. But that's a very recent development, and I'm not sure if you want to know about it." She learned that Draco and Harry were partners, thus getting along amicably, but what about Ron? He got them the tickets for the Quidditch game, but did that count as a casual friendly gesture? Wringing her hands, Hermione heard Ginny giggling. The three others' confused looks even adding to it.

"Sorry, honestly! But Hermione, as a Doctor you know that my olfactory sense is better in the pregnancy?" The red-haired witch winked. Then it came to Hermione. "My perfume! You could smell it on—him?" Ginny shrugged her shoulders as an answer and gave the other woman a smile. The conversation made Ron's and Harry's ears perk up with interest.

"So, it's someone we know and Ginny already met closely, but you don't feel overly comfortable naming us?" Ron summarized.

Silence.

"Noooooo, Hermione, seriously?" Harry doubled over in laughter, his voice still slightly hoarse.

Ron, as always, was a bit slower on the uptake. "Who? Come on, tell me, mate!"

"Our Hermione here as snatched the Number One of the half-official "Sexiest Auror Alive" list!"

'Where is a wormhole when you need one?' Hermione thought. _'_ _Gods, that's worse than telling the parents. Wait- does getting caught barely inter-coital count as telling?_ '

Now, Ron's owl dropped the mail. "Malfoy?" he puffed out, apparently trying hard not to laugh again.

Hermione's cheeks were still pink, but she set her face in a strict doctor's 'I'm not interested how _that_ got in _there_ , we're using the biggest pliers to get it _out_ again'-expression and said, "It's remarkable you two manly-men know of that, but yes. Draco and I are a couple. And somehow, it's _your_ doing, Harry." Maybe she exaggerated a bit, but without Harry getting attacked, Draco wouldn't have gotten her back. Concerning the boys (children of their own, Order of Merlin, and Auror badges aside, males who giggled like that couldn't be considered as adults, could they?) this comment apparently did the trick, as they now gaped at her jaw-slacked.

Ginny, in turn, who had puzzled the story together in her head, giggled even louder at the sight of her husband and her brother.

"Interested in a story?" Hermione sat herself down on a nearby chair, gesturing Ginny and Ron to do the same. "Well, it started when I was telling Mr. Billings about the difference between wild ramson and lily of the valley…"

-DHDHDHDHDH-

If anyone saw Draco Malfoy now, pacing his office, his purple robes discarded on a chair, and his platinum hair constantly ruffled by his own fingers - he'd still make every straight woman salivate. However, for once he didn't care how he looked; he was too concentrated on the notes and photos pinned on the wall in front of him. Occasionally, he connected names or places with coloured yarn, symbolizing a supposed connection. The talk with his mother had made Draco thinking.

 _"_ _Draco, someone had the audacity to steal from the company! I was doing the half-yearly inventory and some things are missing inexplicably. Things my Slytherin-instinct and an intimate knowledge of potions consider as very suspicious. Oh, don't look at me like that—try living in a house with Severus without having potions-recipes as a bed-time story! All together, it sounds like a spiked Polyjuice! Anyways, I talked to Blaise today and he was quite shocked. He asked me to inform you immediately and personally."_

Oh, he'd have a nice little conversation with Blaise surrounding the meaning of the word 'privacy', preferably with Blaise's mother around and some embarrassing memories about his Italian friend in a pensieve.

However, he was sure Jackie wasn't the criminal mastermind, but whoever was behind it had relations to certain places or events:

' _The Quidditch game_ '- where Harry was attacked.

 _'_ _The fundraiser'_ \- where he and Hermione had been drugged.

And _'_ _Malfoy Inc._ ' - where certain - Morgana's Touch-relevant - ingredients had disappeared from the inventory.

He arranged those events, written on blue paper, in a big circle on his wall.

Next came the yellow papers, in a smaller inner circle, with suspicions over the villain:

 _'_ _Headquarter of some sorts in a close walking distance of Knockturn Alley_.' - They had caught Georgie there, who evidently hadn't apparated after he bought the drug from the dealer.

 _'_ _Connection to Jackie' -_ he was quite confident that the blonde and the villain knew each other personally.

 _'_ _Connection to Hermione' -_ Jackie's motives were obvious: she wanted the Malfoys' traditional engagement ring on her finger and the cradle in the Manor's nursery filled. But Hermione? She appeared after the attack on Harry, thus she was drugged with a _personal touch_ , if the carefully measured dosage of substance was any indication.

On orange sheets came the characteristics the responsible person most likely possessed for such a criminal planning.

 _'_ _Cunning', 'semi-intelligent' 'vindictive', 'certain aim_ '.

Paper with white background marked the timeline above the artwork: Georgies first capture, Harry getting attacked, Hermione coming back.

"Damn. There must be a person who had their hand in all of this…" He slammed his hand on his desk angrily, sending some papers flying down. Draco remembered on how Hermione had searched for relevant files on her own crowded desk the other day, right before she showed Krum's letter to him. They hadn't discussed it any further, but he really hoped he made his point clear: he didn't approve of the Cannon's recently acquired Seeker, who appeared everywhere one looked.

Literally everywhere.

Draco threw a glance at Jackie's biography; She visited Durmstrang.

Normally, Draco wasn't common enough to swear like a muggle, but now it seemed the appropriate choice.

"Fuck! The git was parading under our nose the whole time. Viktor Krum, apparently you have more between your big ears than a fluttering Snitch."

An unpleasant chat with Jackie later and an urgent call to 's to Harry to carry his pretending-to-be-sick-arse in their damn office immediately, his partner and Hermione discussed Draco's deductions. Of course the stubborn witch had to convince herself of his logic. After throwing an angry fit on the criminal energy of men (and recounting statistics and studies about the gender- inequality in different crimes), her face suddenly showed a smile which made Harry scowl.

"Oh no, I recognize that expression. Next thing she's riding a dragon out of Gringotts."

Draco really wanted to insert a snarky quip how good she was at riding _his_ dragon, but Hermione was faster.

"Gentlemen, I have a plan."

 **A/N: Special thanks to all the reviewers: zoesheppard (uh oh, indeed!), Sassystarbuck09 (like it?), Green Eyed Lana Lee (*blushes and giggles at the compliment*), pgoodrichboggs (totally embarrassing! Like how Hermione reacts? Btw: Cookie recipe?), KnowInsight (good enough reason? Hihi), Dramione shipper 17 (*again blushing and giggling at the smut compliment*), Slytherinvillain7 (smile, girl!), minniemousemom (Simpsons-moment? hehe), APeaceOfPie4Everybody011 (I'd totally die in Hermione's place!), Jacqueline Noir (word gems, totally humbles me!), MrBenzedrine (I'm still giggling like a loon when you review, it's like the headmaster complimenting my lessons in front of the whole school!), Grovek26 (passion totally killed!), mega700201 (you're honestly welcome!), Sam Wallflower (your gut instinct was right! And I sent Draco to MrBenzedrine, perhaps you could share? Kidding, I'll just clone him!), Gimina Wow (sucks just a bit...), Vanessa85 (thanks as always!), EvenNotOdd (here's more!), IGOTEAMEDWARD (veeeery!), Hanable-13 (ship as you like ;) and: be patient just a little bit more?), IrishPrincess1987 (satisfied with what she has to say?), I was BOTW (hahaha, do mothers have motives for showing up unannounced? mine doesn't...), writerspassion18 (no need to be sorry and happy that you caught up!), HarryPGinnyW4eva (maybe it's not so bad what she has to say? and glad I made you giggle!), IWasn'tTalkingToYou (Was it a good argh or a bad one?).**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Okay, here's the next chapter and we're slowly approaching the finish line. I have honestly no idea when I manage to write the following chapter, as I'm on a field trip with my new class from Monday till Friday, and I very much doubt my lovely rascals will allow me time for myself. As always, hugs and kisses to the brilliant MrBenzedrine, the starlight herself ;)! Without her, nothing of this would be possible! She even accent-ed Viktor! Responses to reviews at the end!**

 **P.S.: A reviewer wrote in her review that the Latin in ch.6 lacked, which isn't the cause. 'Luctor' and 'orior' fall into the funny weird category of Latin verbs called 'deponens'. This means, though they're translated actively, they're grammatically passive. The term I used is a blend between 'luctor et emergo' (I struggle and I emerge), the motto of Zeeland, the westernmost province of the Netherlands (funnily, there's a lion in its coat of arms); 'ex flammis orior' (from the flames I emerge), the coat of arm's motto of the German noble dynasty of Hohenlohe; and of the quite common Latin saying 'per aspera ad astra' (through hardship to the stars).**

"Don't bullshit me, Draco Malfoy! I know you're sleeping with this blonde, big-busted bitch!" Hermione was screaming- so loudly, in fact, that the female Aurors in the Department smiled secretly; this sounded like Draco would be looking for female company again, soon.

"Don't curse like that- it's very unbecoming." Draco's voice, in turn, sounded annoyed in a way that reminded them both of their earlier Hogwarts years. Old habits die hard.

"Unbecoming? Now I'm _unbecoming_?" The girly princess and the inner slut formed an alliance called _'pissed-off Drama Queen'_ , who was having a field day. The alpha female sat in the front row and ate popcorn.

"What are you molding me into? Your muggleborn mistress?" It seemed Drama Queen had a liking for alliterations.

A dirty smirk showed on Draco's features. "Oh, you can play my mistress anytime, pet." _'Sixty sentences for sassy situations by L.A.M., page 37'_ he recited in his head.

The office door opened without knocking, and in came an intrigued looking Viktor Krum, holding the note Draco sent to him earlier, which demanded his presence.

"Am I intervupting?" Viktor asked.

Hermione shook her head vigorously, her cheeks still flaming."No, we're just _finishing_." She stared at Draco, eyes blazing. "I'm no one's mistress! Though, it seems I'm no longer worthy of your precious pureblood _prick_ as you've already replaced me with a warmed-up, wanton witch!"

With a domineering posture that sent hot shivers through Hermione's lower body, Draco closed the distance between them, stepping directly in front of her. But instead of capturing her lips and bending her over his desk as his inner alpha wanted him to, despite the unwelcoming audience, he simply traced his long index finger over the emerald snake circling around the Aesculapian staff, which bore ruby eyes now.

"We both know you won't keep your hands off of me for long," he drawled, just loud enough for the other two people in the room to hear. "Not that it matters. Go waste your muggle-breath elsewhere, you're nothing more than a wand-polishing harlot for me."

 _SLAP!_

The sound of Hermione's hand coming in forceful contact with Draco's face resonated, and one second later she fled the room, tears running down her face. She made it some way down the hallway before she collapsed against the wall, sobbing. A witch coming out of Auror Malfoy's office, crying and cursing the wizard, was not really a premiere for the Department, so nobody stopped or cared for her. Except Viktor, who patted her knee reassuringly.

"I- I really thought he changed. That he was a better man, now," she wailed, clutching Viktor's sleeves as he helped her up.

"But he is still de arrogant bastard he vas! Stay avay vrom him, he is _dangerous_ ," Viktor insisted.

Hermione wouldn't stop. "I thought he would care for me, protect me…" her alpha female gagged at the damsel-in-distress-display she lowered herself to. "Will you help me, Viktor? Please. You did so wonderfully when I was down so many years ago." The alpha female slammed her head into the nearest wall.

"Of course. Vat can I do vor you?" The Bulgarians tone was hopeful.

"Normally, if I have a very bad day, my friends from the hospital and I would knock back a drink or two at home, then go to a bar and get very drunk. But they are on the muggle side and wouldn't understand! And I don't want to get sloshed at the Three Broomsticks, I'm too well known for that. Where can we go?" She batted her lashes, asking herself if she wasn't acting too out-of-character. Though, the muscled man in front of her didn't mind and steadied her stance with his arm around her shoulders, leading them towards the floo. "Don't vorry, Hermione. Ve are going to my place, dere's alvays a bottle of vodka vaiting vor you."

As soon as they disappeared though the green flames, Harry came around the corner, hasting towards his shared office. Thanks to the Healer's stasis charms on his muscles and Hermione's care, he was back at the Auror Division again, merely one week after he woke up. Bolting through the door, he found a smirking Malfoy leaning at his desk, his grey eyes fixated on a blinking light on a newly installed screen. "Did it work? Did you activate the tracker?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "No, I'm following the light on the screen because I can't do anything else since Hermione fucked my brains out.- _Of course_ , it worked!"

Harry didn't take the bait, knowing his partner and his quips. "Remarkable that we were able to integrate a GPS-tracking-device into that snake necklace! Where are they at the moment? I want to prepare the team."

The blonde Auror's scowled; it still annoyed him that things fit so obviously well together. "The Onyx Thunderbird."

-DHDHDHDHDHDH-

Hermione plopped down the giant sofa in the vast living room, while Viktor fetched the vodka and two glasses. "So, you're living in a hotel?"

"Yes. A vriend's vather is de owner. Mr. Stevens vas so generous to let me live 'ere."

 _'Clever,'_ Hermione thought, _'Hotels have big kitchens. Kitchens that need temperature-controlled storage rooms. Ideal to store delicate potion ingredients.'_

If their plan worked out correctly, they would find the stolen goods in the hotel. It took her the better part of one week, but in the end Hermione managed to manipulate all regular Polyjuice substances in Malfoy Inc. to express green fluorescent protein. This useful little protein, GFP for short, would glow under UV-light like a Slytherin Christmas tree and thus prove its origin.

"Stevens you said? Is he related to Jackie?" she prodded, inwardly cheering that she found a connection between Viktor, Jackie and the hotel that presumably served as the headquarter of the drug dealer. 'Some new coloured notes on Draco's wall.' She admittedly found his Sherlock-tendencies unbelievably drool-worthy.

Viktor's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes. I know her vrom Durmstrang... -But enouv about me. How's your 'project' at de Ministry going?" He opened a bottle and poured them two shots of iced vodka. An expensive brand, Hermione noticed. 'The bottle was sealed before, it should be safe.' she hoped.

"Well, why don't we drink first?" she raised her glass, toasting to Viktor. Both emptied their drinks. What took Draco and his team so long? She decided to buy some time.

"My work is very interesting. I get the chance to refresh my knowledge about many things in the wizarding world. Potions and healing, to be exact." Draco and Harry had told her to stay as close to the truth as possible when lying.

"Jackie told me you are vorking on tis drug, vat's its name again?"

"Morgana's Touch, yes. And Jackie shouldn't have told you that- it's confidential." She tried very hard to give her voice a reluctant tone, but Hermione Granger was many things, and reluctant wasn't one of them.

"Come on, you can tell me, Herm-i-one. Ve're very old and _close_ Vriends, avter all." He refilled the vodka while talking and inched quite close to her whilst handing her the glass. They toasted, they drank, and Hermione started to wonder if she could keep up with Viktor liquor-wise. She already felt the dizzying effect of the alcohol.

"Oookay, but just the summary for you, Mr. Wronski-feint."

Viktor grinned at that, unaffected by the strong beverage.

 _'No wonder, men have a higher tolerance of alcohol because of their different body-fat-rate,'_ the librarian inside her explained. Though, this part of her personality only was naughty when Draco was nearby. Viktor's hands, which were now resting on her thighs, wouldn't challenge her. Even the inner slut had been _Draco-rized_ , as she was busy choosing the next evening's lingerie.

"Drug components discovered, Georgie captured, Jackie's a bitch, your silly arrow found, Harry's awake…"

 _'Fuck._ ' She said something she shouldn't have, right? Viktor had become regal somewhere in her last sentence.

" _My_ arrow?" The man oozed danger now, his dark eyes boring into hers.

Before Hermione could answer, many things happened at once. The door was blasted open, and Draco and Harry, along with their team, wands wielded, came bursting in. In the same second, Viktor pulled Hermione onto him, her hand lost grip on her wand, and a shouted _Expelliarmus!_ sent Viktor's flying into Auror Miller's hand.

But the villain was prepared. With one smooth move, he pulled a knife from his belt. When the noise began to settle, he held Hermione in a death-grip and the blade on her throat. The Auror's grouped around him in a half-circle, giving him no chance to escape. Oh, how Hermione hated to be the damsel-in-distress for _real_.

Draco analysed the present situation, trying to distance himself from the fact that it was his little witch being threatened by a blade. Again. It didn't work very well, as he felt his protective instincts roaring.

The blade. The villain. The witch. The Aurors. No way to escape. A thin trail of red blood trickling down Hermione's throat.

Draco was eerily reminded of a movie he watched with the brunette witch the other day. 'Kobayashi Maru' they had called a situation like this in it, a test he couldn't possibly win. Lest he cheated. He had mentioned the similarities to his House then, and she had commented, sarcastically impersonating the Sorting Hat, "Captain James T. Kirk, you're sorted into Slytherin!"

Damn, she shouldn't be in a situation like this. She was a doctor, not an Auror, for Salazar's sake! But, naturally, Hermione Granger, being the most stubborn witch on the planet, got her way. Both men had been tricked by her deep brown, doe eyes. Potter because of the guilt trip she had subtly hinted at ("Harry, I'm not sure if I can already trust you again!"), Draco because of the thing she did with her tongue gliding over her lips when Potter wasn't looking. He was cursing himself for following her suggestions now. His cock had made the decision for his brain, apparently.

Meanwhile, Harry, the good Auror he was, started talking. "Hello, Viktor. Long time no see. How are you doing?"

Draco nearly snorted. Leave it to Potter to take the Auror Rules to the letter ( _'Pretend you are really interested what the hostage-taker has to say. Make small-talk as your colleagues carry through with the plan')_.

"Busy." The Bulgarian snarled.

"Pray tell. With what?" Harry really succeeded in being convincingly interested.

"Business."

"I heard from my brother-in-law that elf-races are quite popular in Bulgaria. Can you tell me something about it?" The green-eyed Auror wanted to know _('Make up some irrelevant details to distract the villain. The weirder, the better')_. Strangely, he seemed to hit a sore spot with it, as Krum's arm tightened around Hermione's body and his jaw set.

"True. It's very vunny and you can make much money vith it. Or you lose much. Like me." The only inclination that Harry realised he was close to a discovery was a slightly slower blink. Draco stood still as a statue, waiting for a realistic chance to interfere.

"That sounds bad. How much did you lose?"

"Everything. And more. Made debts vith the vrong people, dos still living in de old vays. I owed them much more money dan a Quidditch Player gets paid in my country." Curiously, Viktor answered the Auror's questions. Draco and Harry knew from experience that this was a critical point in a hostage-situation. The longer the villain talked, the more probable it was that he made mistakes, giving the Enforcement the opportunity to free the captive: Hermione.

Harry still appeared like talking to a long lost friend. "Oh, this was why you came to England? I was wondering. I mean, you're sponsored by Malfoy Inc., I wouldn't want to be associated with _that_ name."

Draco ignored the jab at his family name and concentrated on Krum, because that was something he'd given much thought about in the last days, too.

"The captaincy for the Cannons vas pervect. De people I owed money still believe Malfoy is just a mole in de Ministry. And vorking for the vamily means protection in my creditor's opinion. Protection vrom their unvriendly demands vor payback."

The Malfoy heir didn't give a damn what people thought about him or that Krum must have lost abhorrent sums in gambling. All that mattered to him in this moment was the witch across the room, who showed a remarkable coolness. Her pupils were dilated, and her breathing a bit ragged, but otherwise, she appeared relatively unaffected. He guessed doing surgeries and rescuing lives for years helped here.

Viktor continued with his monologue. "I met Jackie in de bar of dis hotel again. Her vather owns it, and de poor girl was drinking alone and pining vor this blond guy. It didn't took me long to realise she vas talking about him." The sharp nod of his head in Draco's direction caused the entire team to twitch. But it wasn't enough, yet. "She vas desperate. And so I overed her help to get him. A plan dat helped me, too."

"So, you two sat together and developed a plan that involved the design of a new drug? Very smart, Viktor." Harry, again.

"Potions vas the only class Jackie vas brilliant in. We used that talent. She vanted Draco to shag her and make her pregnant. I needed money, because the Cannons don't pay enouvh. We'd both made provit from an unknown, addictive and mind-altering substance. And Georgie vas dumb enough to be our guinea pig."

The puzzle formed a picture in Draco's head with just some fragments missing. He hoped his partner saw that, too.

"Still a very complex plan. Very intelligent." Potter was following the rule _'Compliments help to wane the hostage-taker in security'_. "And stealing the ingredients from the Malfoy business was as easy for you, I guess?"

"Very easy, if you know 'ow to charm de right witches into telling the passvord to de vaults for a snogging session." His lips curled into a creepy smirk.

"But why did you attack me? I had know idea you were behind Morgana's Touch."

"I didn't know dat. The moment I saw your name on de guest list, I panicked. It took some persu-va-sion," he stumbled over the word, "But Jackie vas able to modify de recipe. And it worked very good, as you know."

Now Draco stepped in, as previously agreed upon. "I caught up with your story, Krum, but one thing doesn't make sense to me: Why did you drug Hermione on your own when your goal was selling drugs?" From the corner of his eye, the blond wizard saw his partner making subtle movements with his hand.

Viktor's expression was one of satisfaction when he answered. "Herm-i-one vas- vhat do you Englishmen say?-she vas de icing on de cake. I couldn't let de opportunity pass to rekindle an old flame. And Hermione vas alvays very… _pliant_ in bed, avter a vodka or two. The plan vas to pull the wand vrom her arse and get her into my bed again."

Draco didn't like the dangerous gleam in the man's eyes one bit and dashed forward verbally to keep his limbs were they were, in duelling stance on the floor. "Oh, I didn't know she was into _tha_ t kinky stuff. I'm used to putting my _wand_ in her mouth or her cunt. But well, I love her, and I'm open for everything." After that too tempting quip, Draco knew Viktor must come to the realisation that the whole thing had been a setup. Even Malfoys didn't insult their witches when they loved them, like he did back in the office. But for Krum, the proverbial Snitch was caught too late.

With a fast turn of his head to the left, Viktor spotted the arrow flying towards him. Harry directed it with his wand, and after a split second to react, Viktor released Hermione with a hefty push to the floor and dove for the nearing arrow.

However, he hadn't calculated with the Slytherin-share of the successful Auror-team. With a fast flick of his wand, Draco sent the second propofol-loaden arrow flying, approaching Krum from his back. With a satisfying _thud!_ the weapon hit its target.

Not daring to move as not endanger Hermione, who lay sprawled on the carpet, Draco counted the seconds in his head as his witch had told him. _'Three Mississippi, two Mississippi, one Mississippi-'_

The -undoubtedly former- Seeker and Captain of the Chudley Cannons collapsed into a narcotic sleep, courtesy of a Hermione-pimped-propofol-arrow. The tension in the hotel room ceased on the spot.

Draco smirked at his partner. "I have waited so long, but it's so worth it: Finally, I beat you at something Quidditch-related, Potter, for it was me who made the catch! Don't you agree, Hermione?" Still grinning, the Auror turned to the witch, which was still huddled on the floor. His face fell as he saw blood seeping from under the hand she clutched to her side. For the second time in the past week, Draco gave in the urge to curse heavily.

" _Fuck_! Harry, Hermione is hurt!" He ran to her side and checked her for further injuries. The wound below her ribs seemed to be the only one, though the blood flowed quickly out of it.

"What did he do?" Harry kneeled down on her level.

"Knife," she wheezed.

His hands covered in his girlfriend's blood, Draco made a fast decision. "I'm going to apparate her into St. Mungo's." Knowing the shock would come later, he settled her in his arms, his back barely protesting upon the unhealthy angle he used.

She whispered something, and Harry and Draco lowered their faces to understand her. "I love it when a plan comes together." Then the world turned black for Hermione.

Without wasting a thought how much attention he'd draw, Draco apparated into the waiting area of the magical hospital.

The reporter of the Daily Prophet, who happened to be present because his two-years-old son had lost a fight with a garden gnome, thanked Merlin when the Malfoy heir, clad in full Auror gear, materialized in front of his eyes, a bloody war heroine tight in his arms, and yelling for medical help for _his witch_.

 **P.S.: So, now it's time to respond to your wonderful and kind reviews. But wait, first I want to recommend MrBenzedrine's new one-shot, a beautiful and heartfelt gift to WayMay called 'Starlight'. Please read it, it's soooo awesome!**

 **Thanks to: Grovek26 (yay! to Narcissa gaining points, she deserves them!), pgoodrichboggs (500 grams of sugar, 250 grams of dark rich chocolate...), Guest 1 (love 'effing', I never find an opportunity to use it!), Guest 2 (hahah, he's so good as a villain, isn't he?), Dramione shipper17 (Viktor, really! And thanks for the compliment for the dragon!), I was BOTWP (just one can get the witch, and it wasn't Viktor ;)), IGOTEAMEDWARD (thank you!), IrishPrincess1987 (I want another update of yours ;)), mega700201 (you're welcome, of Course!), Sam Wallflower (I love love love your reviews!), IWasn'tTalkingToYou (glad it was a good argh ;)), Slytherinvillain7 (thumbs up!), Sassystarbuck09 (Yeeees! right!), EvenNotOdd (here's more ;)), LorindoTinuviel (heheh, that wasn't an conscious Outlander-reference, just something my botanic professor used to tell us), Vanessa85 (sorry if you like him. He was the intended villain from the very start), minniemousemom (you're welcome!), KnowInsight (glad that I made you laugh!), HarryPGinnyW4eva (yeah, I thought Ron deserved to be the mature one for once** ), **zoesheppard (sorry!), Guest (knew that about Canossa, though Heinrich kneeling in the cold is a myth), Green Eyed Lana Lee (thanks for the humbling review! ans for Draco's deduction: I've been Sherlocked;)).**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Yayyyy! I survived the trip! Lol, just kidding, the children were really great, but, though, I needed some time to catch up sleep. But the chapter is finally out now! BIG, EPIC thanks to MrBenzedrine, the woman who still has enough patience to proofread my stuff and bears with my antics!*hearts*She encouraged be to 'go hard or go home', and, well, I went hard, apparently... this is why there's some smut in here that made me blush writing it ;) AAAAND WayMay also deserves shout-outs here, because... I won't tell. Those who read Empire (still love the ascending dragon) will know why. Responses to reviews at the end of the chapter.**

"Uh, they make it sound as if I was nearly dying!" Hermione huffed. She had yesterday's _Daily Prophet_ in her hands, and leaned on her kitchen counter, clad casually in jeans and blouse.

'Purple knight rescues returned Golden Princess' the headline read; beneath it was a photo of Draco carrying the wounded and unconscious Hermione through St. Mungo's. Her brown curls fanned over his arm, and two Healers hasted behind them.

"In the muggle word, you _would_ have died. Thankfully, this handy wizard thing called Blood Replenishing Potion saved your delectable arse in no time." Draco helped his point by giving the witch a hefty slap on her behind.

"Hey! That hurt!" she exclaimed.

Another slap followed, however this time his hand stayed on her bum, palming the round surface. "Did it, now? Do you know what hurt, too? The unplanned slap you gave me in my office." He breathed the words lowly in her ear, making Hermione realise that he stood right behind her. So close in fact, that she could feel his warmth on her back and his intoxicating scent in her nose.

"Well, that happened _in the moment_ , and you slapped my bum two times now-"

 _SMACK!_

After the third time, Draco's middle finger traced the seam of her jeans downwards, coming to rest on the warmest spot between her legs for a second. After the teasing movement, he braced his hands on the counter right and left beside her, effectively caging her.

"This is happening in the moment, too. Don't you agree?" he drawled on. Hermione both loved and loathed the fact that he could heat her up in mere seconds. But she wouldn't give in yet.

A roll with her hips against his crotch confirmed: she wasn't the only one becoming aroused as her 'delectable arse' touched his growing erection through suddenly too many layers of clothing. Draco unsuccessfully tried to suppress a moan.

"Wouldn't you agree that _you_ should make amends now that you had two slaps for free?" She turned around in her limited space, throwing her arm around his neck and pulling him down for a tongue-filled kiss. Reluctantly, he broke away to talk to her.

"Mmmh, maybe there's something we both enjoy." With a swift movement that made Hermione think he'd used magic, Draco had opened the button on her jeans, pulled the zipper and hooked his thumbs in the hem. And -there went her trousers and knickers down on the floor. His grey eyes fueled the fire within her even further when he looked up to her from his now kneeling position.

Slightly calloused hands caressed her naked skin, under her blouse, her hips, his index tracing a small circle on her venus mount, further down to her inner thighs. She could feel his hot breath grazing her centre teasingly, longing to feel his lips were she could sense the wetness as witness of her aroused state. Distracted, she hadn't noticed that his arms had hooked behind her knees, so she gave a surprised gasp as he sat her on the counter with a strong push.

All of her inner voices swooned at the sight of his muscled, but lean, arms in action. Thankfully, he hadn't dressed yet, and this was why they could feel skin on skin when he stepped between her legs and kissed her passionately. Hermione hooked her bare legs behind his back and coaxed him against her; they both moaned when her hot and wet centre touched his still clothed middle. A roll with her hips- but Draco didn't want to act according her intentions and strip.

"Not so fast, little witch. Amends, remember?" He nipped her bottom lip teasingly, soothing the pleasing pain with his tongue as a replay of what he had seen her doing her when they first felt something remotely sexual for each other. Doing it himself, though, proved even more arousing, and his erection strained against the narrow confines of his remaining clothes.

He definitely planned to have his wicked way with her, but first...he distracted himself with opening her blouse, his lips never leaving hers. The blouse had to go first, then the emerald-coloured bra.

"Mmh, Hermione," he spoke between deep kisses, "changed your loyalty, I see?" _'Merlin, she always looks fuckable, but in green especially so.'_

"Just concerning one Slytherin in particular. And wait until you find your new ruby silk boxers. Though, they're more something for Chris-" he closed his lips around her right nipple fast to break her sentences and massaged the other breast with his hand. It worked; she threw her head back in pleasure and leaned on her hands. But, despite his actions, Draco had a soft moment, because she, inadvertently or not, had stated she thought of them together in long term. He'd admit that to no living being, of course, but it erased some little feelings of insecurity out of him.

A repetition of the lip action at the other breast, and Draco left his northern playground in favour of the one that emitted the sweet ambrosian scent he couldn't imagine getting enough of. He followed the course of her body with his tongue, her ribs, her belly, her inner thighs. She emitted a frustrated mewl when he skipped her pussy, but that turned into a heartfelt sigh when he followed her pleadings with an amused curl of his lips. With the help of his hands he adjusted her on the counter to his liking, so he could access her even better. Draco traced her outer labia, then her inner labia, and Hermione was already on a point where she could feel her climax lying in wait. However, he enjoyed her too much in this highly aroused state as to give her her release yet. Instead, he focused on alternately sucking and licking at her clit now, her moans and groans increasing in volume steadily. When he felt her orgasm drawing so near that she started bucking her hips into his face, desperate for _this little more_ of friction-he stopped.

She was too far gone at this point to protest, one sexy mess to his absolute will, and trusting him to reward her for her patience. He caressed her skin then, maybe for a minute: the sensible path between her navel and the seam of her clit, the small and wet path between her outer labia and her legs, her perineum. But his touches did nothing to lessen her thrill. And when he suddenly pushed two of his fingers into her pussy, as far as they went, simultaneously sucking her clit, it took only one, two three glides of his fingers to throw, no, to catapult her into a screaming orgasm.

Though he absolutely enjoyed the pride of being responsible for her blissed state, his own arousal demanded satisfaction. Draco grabbed his witch, placed her gently on her feet and apparated them to her bedroom. There was this one position he always wanted to try…

From their standing position, he gently bent her over to the bed until her hands rested on it. She was attentive and curious of what he had in store, knowing he wasn't finished with her. How could he? His hard cock rested between her arse cheeks, free to act, now that he had finally abandoned his boxers.

Tracing her spine with his fingers, he gently commanded, "Be a good girl and give me your left ankle." She was sure she'd give him anything, as long as he used this voice. Dominant, but assuring. Commanding, but respectful.

"Now bend your knee a bit and keep it that way. Yes, like that." He lifted her foot at the height of his hip, her lower leg now pointing up straight. The tip of his penis already rested on her entrance and it took him only a small movement with his hips to enter her wholly.

Her warmth and wetness stunned him every time at the initial impact; she was always so ready for him. Hermione felt in heaven. Already primed after her first orgasm, she loved her cunt being filled like this, deep and to the brim with Draco's hard cock, stroking her G-spot every time his slow thrusts hit home. Yet, she needed-

"More!" she begged, straightening her supporting leg to emphasise her point.

"More?" his voice was filled with the struggle to control his thrusts, wishing to prolong the ride. "If you beg for it-"

He had barely finished his sentence, when she followed "More, please, Draco!"

Knowing she'd tell him if he should stop, the blond lubricated his index and middle finger at the point where he was still moving in and out of her, where he could spot her overflowing wetness on his prick. Carefully, he followed the darkness between her folds in the direction of her spine. He was curious and excited, wondering if she'd mind?

Gently, he probed her anus with one finger, all the while not ceasing his thrusting. Hermione stiffened in surprise at the new feeling, but then gave in the sensation of being filled even more with a loud and feral moan.

"Still more?" Draco asked, gritting his teeth, losing the last grip on his control fastly.

"Yesss!" she hissed. With more force than the first, he inserted the his second finger into her back passage. When she bucked her hips against his moving fingers and cock, and he could feel himself with his fingers in her, he knew his body wouldn't give him another option but to start thrusting like an animal.

And he did so, speeding up, completely giving into the sensations. It was just feels and sound now, and when he thought his heart and his cock would explode, he felt the familiar tingle in his balls, signaling his impending climax. In perfect synchrony, she started convulsing around him, screaming out her second orgasm, and with an almost relieved grunt, he gave up, surrendering to the carnal challenge and spilled his seed into her.

He couldn't remember he'd ever come this hard. Probably just an illusion, because he always felt like this with Hermione. Riding their combined highs out slowly, he loosened the grip on her ankle carefully and pulled out of her, his penis and his fingers. A non-verbal cleansing charm later he hugged her from behind and lowered them both on the mattress. As they lay there, spooning, he murmured into her ear, "Well, I should sent an owl to Krum in Azkaban. There was no wand in your arse." Both exhausted and happy, they succumbed to sleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Apparently, when one was invited to tea with Narcissa Malfoy, CEO and owner of _Malfoy Inc._ , it was like an audience with the Queen herself. Hermione waited outside the office in the upper level of the building, and with her waited another handful of witches and wizards. All wore expensive business robes and looked down their noses on her; war heroine or not, this wasn't the sphere of hexes or spells; it was the one of power and money.

"Miss Granger, Mrs. Malfoy will welcome you next," The head-secretary, a cliché blonde and beautiful witch told her, her voice covering her disgust not a bit. When the secretary opened the door for Hermione, Narcissa sat behind her giant wooden desk like a royal. Not that Hermione cowered before her boyfriend's mother, on the contrary, she admired the grandesse the older witch oozed like carbon dioxide, from the perfectly manicured nails to the expensive pumps she wore under her robes.

"Miss Granger, I'm pleased to see that you recovered from your unfortunate encounter with such a formidable villain." She rose from her seat and came to halt in front of the younger witch. "The article in the Prophet was quite fond of you and the blossoming relationship with my son."

Hermione didn't budge an inch under her scrutinizing gaze.

"All they managed to capture was Draco carrying me in the hospital, nothing more." the brunette responded.

"That, and the fact that he claimed you as _his_." Narcissa floated over to a small table and poured two cups of tea. "You have to know, Miss Granger- as you surely lack experience in that department- this display of affection isn't taken lightly in our circles." Her voice was calm, but the underlying assumptions were easy to detect. "I already received ten quite a few inquisitive owls from old pureblood families, such as the Greengrasses, asking if Draco was formally courting you." Hermione felt hot and cold at the circles her relationship with the Malfoy heir drew. But, as her inner slut reminded her, it was all about money and power, not love, or even sex, with those people. ' _Though, the latter ones are so much more fun!'_

Narcissa hadn't finished with her speech. "Do you have any idea what this- let's call it _dalliance_ for now, will do to the public face of the Malfoy name?"

"No, I don't know, nor do-" Hermione started, trying hard to control her temper, but was rudely interrupted by the other witch.

"You may not know what reactions are to be awaited, when my son, the heir to the Malfoy name and business, shows up in public with a muggleborn war heroine, that hid between blood and poison the past years. That-"

"-It's impolite to interrupt someone's words, so let me finish!" Hermione's alpha female stomped on the floor, deciding it was her turn now, as this woman was clearly strolling in her recently conquered territory. Her loud words rendered Narcissa speechless for a second. "I don't pretend to know which reactions Draco's and my _relationship_ will cause in the dusty pureblood-circles I have _no_ intention to be a part of, nor do I care."

She lowered her voice again. Screaming at her potential mother-in-law (it was the girly princess that whispered that with a hopeful giggle, still utterly in love with Draco's dramatic entrance at the hospital) wouldn't do any good.

"The only person I care about is Draco himself. My past is my own, and, like Draco, I've made some decisions that I'm not entirely proud of. The crucial point is that our pasts led us here, and, somehow, even _together._ We've been haunted by our past long enough; what counts is the present and the future we have with each other. You can be a part of it, if you want to, but you will probably have to rethink your priorities concerning your family."

Okay, taking into consideration that Draco's mother had lied to Voldemort himself to protect him, she _might have_ overstepped her boundaries and anticipated an equal comeback now. However, to Hermione's astonishment, Narcissa Malfoy simply arched one of her perfectly tended eyebrows."Firstly, congratulations: you've passed my inspection."

Hermione's inner librarian bounced on her heels at having passed a test, no matter which one.

"Secondly, I expect you to come to my office once a week for tea, and once a month for a shopping trip."

Before she could understand Narcissa's implications entirely, Hermione nodded her head.

"Thirdly, Draco has two weaknesses: One is _you_ , apparently, so don't hurt him. It took him so long to not only open his bedroom door for a witch, but also his heart." A proud little smile unfurled on the brunette's complexion, listening to the blonde. "The other one: chocolate cookies. He says he can handle a lot of them, but believe me, he can't. And as much as you might love Draco, even with you being a professional in healing, you won't want a repeat of the Christmas-catastrophe when he was twelve years old (a story for another time), so control him, no matter what it takes." The older witch was smiling fondly now, while the inner slut in Hermione quickly listed 69 options to keep Draco distracted from chocolate cookies.

When Narcissa opened the office door and informed her secretary loudly that she'd take the rest of the day off to spend it with _Doctor_ Hermione Granger, her son's _girlfriend_ , and if she could please see that those loitering beggars left the building, Hermione had the childish urge to stuck out her tongue at the waiting business people. Instead, she settled for a smirk worthy of a Slytherin.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"That makes absolutely no sense!" Draco stated. "Why should one need a fellowship of _nine_ to throw one ring into the fire, ridiculous! And this blond elf, he clearly has some unresolved father-issues!" Hermione couldn't keep her face straight anymore and dissolved into bubbling laughter. Watching movies with Draco was always so much fun, and today it was one of her favorites: the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

"Shut up and enjoy the show, Legolas!" It wasn't until the fighting scenes that Draco understood that little reference to the way he'd taken Krum down, and gave a chuckle. He still had to learn so much about the muggle culture. Thinking of this, his heart fell a little at the topic he wanted to avoid, but couldn't any longer.

"Hermione?" He slightly shrugged his shoulder, which was occupied by her unruly curls at the moment.

"Mh?"

"I know that the Wizengamot trial of Jackie and Krum have yet to be held, but now that the case is basically closed, what are you going to do?" He tried very hard to sound simply curious.

"Well, the contract with the Ministry is fulfilled, and I've still got my job at the hospital-"

"That means you're going back to the muggle world?" Draco failed miserably to cover his anxiety.

"Will you let me finish, _Auror Malfoy_? I thought about it, going back to where I've practically hidden-" she turned to face him, her eyes gazing softly into his, "But that was before I realised that I belong to the world of magic. This, and the little fact that a certain blond Auror wouldn't leave my head, and, of course, my heart-" the rest was drowned in feverish kisses. Giggling, she broke away when oxygen became an issue. "I have a meeting scheduled with Kingsley to discuss my options, but I'm convinced he'll find something for me to do. I think the Ministry would do good with someone to research and test the combined usage of muggle medicine and wizarding healing, don't you think?"

Being the good boyfriend that he was, Draco showered Hermione in passionate kisses and told her how right she was. Though there was the alpha male in him, insisting on ideas he knew he'd better not say aloud -yet, sounding awfully possessive, _'As long as there's a Malfoy family heirloom on your ring finger and my seed planted in your fertile womb at some point in the future, you can do whatever you like, little witch.'_ Thankfully, the rest of his brain was more level-headed and smacked the alpha over the head.

 **Okay, you're still with me? Brilliant! Thanks to my reviewers: pgoodrichboggs (sooo yummy, indeed!), zoesheppard (btw, did you get the Macbeth-reference in the second HP-movie? Laughed so hard about that, because it was the only Shakespeare piece I actually understood in my English classes back at school.), Sassystarbuck09 (trekkie forever!), Dramione shipper 17 (it makes me so happy that you thought the break-up was real!), mega700201 (you're very welcome!), Grovek26 (the accent? MrBenzedrine deserves the praise for that, for I'm already struggling with something close to English), IGOTEAMEDWARD (wohooo, A-Team!), I was BOTWP (of course, there will be a happily ever after, I can't bear other endings, seriously, I'm not in the mood right now for anything else;)), Sam Wallflower (I honestly can't await the fanart and start writing You-Know-What), writerspassion18 (I so hope it was a Big Bang reference in your review, lol! But, of course, you're right!), IWasn'tTalkingToYou (yayyyy!), Green Eyed Lana Lee (great, now you make me watch Castle...), HarryPGinnyW4eva (yeah, the knife, it kind of surprised me myself while writing), KnowInsight (*grins back*), Syltherinvillain7 (THANKS SO MUCH!), echiprwth (funny penname, nonetheless ;)), and marpelilla1 (thanks, every woman needs one!).**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Dear readers, may I present you the final chapter of High on Magic?**

 **It has been a wonderful journey for me with all of you and all those kind words and reviews, every laugh and fair critique - they mean so much to me and make me smile and laugh and giggle and blush (A., no comma here because of the effect, right?). THANK YOU!**

 **But I want to thank one person in particular, one that made me believe in the American Dream in some aspects again and who will be, without any doubt, be a highly sought-after author one day in the not-so-distant future. My Alpha Reader, my bunny-evolver, my smut-happens-Lady: The fantastic MrBenzedrine!**

 **I'm honoured to say that she dedicated a story to me I absolutely cherish and you must check out: The Closet Relativity Theory!**

 **THANKS FOR YOUR ENCOURAGMENT and believing in things for me when I am down (great, now I'm crying ;))!**

 **Another author I'd like to give my shout-outs here is waymay, her awesome stories Background and Empire are-wow!**

Hermione sighed. "Okay, Mr. Diggle, I'm going to explain it again: This," she held up a plant with her gloved right hand, "Is _Aconite_. The plant you were looking for, one of Europe's most poisonous plants, by the way. This, on the other side," she showed the brown-haired man before her another plant with her equally gloved left hand, "Is _Delphinium_ , though not as toxic as the former, it is quite dangerous. They are easy mistaken for another, so the next time you collect Aconite for your Wideye Potion, take a botanical book with pictures with you, yes? You can thank Merlin you had a bezoar in your pocket."

"I really am. -Doctor Granger...by any chance, you're not seeing anyone, are you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, this man had nerves! " _Good day,_ Mr. Diggle!"

"Yes, Doctor Granger," the man mumbled ashamed.

With a reassuring smile, Hermione released her patient and enjoyed the quiet minutes that followed, reminiscing the last months.

There had been the trial of Jackie Stevens and Viktor Krum at the Wizengamot. Viktor had been charged to a lifelong sentence in Azkaban, because he wasn't only the criminal mastermind behind Morgana's Touch, but he was also accused of attempted murder of Harry Potter and attempted rape of Hermione Granger. Jackie, well, she was a special case. After all, she committed her crimes out of unrequited love, and that was why Hermione took pity and spoke on her behalf. The brunette suggested, instead, the following punishment: her wand snapped, Jackie was banned to a life between muggles for five years, scrubbing bedpans in Hermione's former hospital for a living. Draco thanked her for her Slytherin-ness with a set of emerald earrings.

With a knock on her open door, Hermione was shaken out of her reverie. The heavily pregnant Ginny Potter supported herself on the doorframe, clearly in pain. "Sorry to interrupt your musings. But I assume you have time for helping your goddaughter's birth?"

Grinning, the doctor rushed to the other witch's side, gently leading her to the maternity ward. "Of course, let's get the party started!"

The friendship of the Golden Trio was still strained, and at some points, they were sure that it would never be the same trust and understanding between the three of them. Nevertheless, they were fighting for it. It helped Hermione a lot that Draco had been in Harry's circle of friends for some time now and knew about many things she had missed. For example there had been this one occasion when he'd pried a sobbing Albus out of her arms, and gently asked if it had been the Flint boy who'd upset him, again. After some words of encouragement and a short briefing in Slytherin for beginners, Albus had regained his sunny nature - and Pansy's son was in for a hairy and sticky surprise the next day.

Hermione was regularly invited to the gatherings at the Burrow- and had been welcomed there with open arms and a lot of tears (and apologies). Though, she wasn't too proud to admit it had been Draco's calming hand on the small of her back which guided her through the first visit.

All in all, it was a natural development, when some months ago, Ginny had stated the wish that it should be Hermione who'd be the midwife for the Potter's fourth child's birth and the godmother to the little girl. Minutes after that, Hermione had opened her books to refresh her knowledge on childbirth and arranged a meeting with Juliet's colleague, the resident obstetrician of her old workplace. She was quite fascinated by the matter, and this was why she installed the peridural anesthesia as her first deed in her new job as Head of Trans-Magical Medicine. Hermione split her work hours between working and researching in St. Mungo's and her lab at the Ministry.

She didn't regret for a second that she returned fully to a life as a witch, though there had been problems that needed solving. Explaining to her muggle friends she was moving in with Draco, who lived in an expansive manor in Wiltshire, had been the easier part - but installing the charms and wards that made Malfoy Manor appear like any other vast muggle building in their eyes called for a good portion of creativity and inventive magic from her and Draco.

Speaking of the blond Auror - he entered the delivery room one hour after Ginny and Hermione, his eyes closed in fear of seeing something he rather wouldn't. Though, he could _hear_ his witch talking to Harry's wife, which was groaning and panting heavily.

"You're progressing nicely, Ginny. Your cervix is already dilated fully, which was expected to happen so fast. after all, this is your fourth birth. You should be able to start pushing, soon. Open your eyes, Draco, don't be ridiculous. The birth of a child is the most natural occurrence in the world," she admonished, as if she was talking about picking flowers, and not about the circumstance that the redhead - and red-faced -woman, whose spread legs she was positioned between, doing Merlin-knows-what, was about to press a human out of her womb.

"And an occurrence which the father of the child should be part of, don't you think?" Draco answered, his view firmly on the floor.

"Where is Harry, this sodding bastard?" Unnecessary to confirm, it was Ginny who uttered those words.

"That is why I came here. He's still in Scotland somewhere, and our owls can't reach him."

"Oh, Draco! _Really_?" Hermione scolded him as if it was _his_ fault. "I have barely had time for the PDA. This was bound to happen so fast!"

She meant to make him feel at least a little guilty with that tone.

"What can I do?" The moment he finished, he knew the words were a mistake.

" _You_ are her birth partner now!" Hermione ordered.

"Excuse me?" - Damnit, he lifted his gaze to Hermione's and saw the ugly mess surrounding her. Most natural occurrence in the world - Salazar's arse! This was a _massacre_!

His girlfriend must have seen him swaying, and, the sweet girl she was, helped him with his misery, "Draco, for God's sake! Get your act together and climb behind Ginny. Hold her hands and let her curse you instead of Harry!" Of course, Harry had been in for the fun part, he was the one who'd finish his job. Not that he ever wanted the fun part with _Ginny_.

Twenty minutes and what felt like a dozen broken bones in his hands later, a baby's cry echoed through the delivery room. After the little girl had been weighed, cleaned and declared absolutely healthy (and Hermione had healed Draco's crushed bones), Harry Potter had the decency to finally arrive.

After the expected round of tears and hugs and more tears, the proud father placed the wrapped bundle in Hermione's arms again. "Hermione, Draco, may I present you: Minerva Hermione Potter!"

"Oh, Harry!" Carefully, as not to squish the delicate baby in her grip, Hermione hugged her friend, equally dissolving in tears.

Draco, after hugging his partner (in a manly way, of course) and giving Ginny a kiss on her cheek, stepped back to observe the scene. All three other adults had their eyes on the newborn. The Malfoy heir chuckled at the irony that this baby, conceived under the influence on Morgana's Touch, was born on the day which was followed by Beltane's night. At the same time, his grey eyes softened when he saw tears of joy falling down Hermione rosy cheeks. Unconsciously, he reached for the little box in his robes, which held an ancient and sparkling secret. For a second, he contemplated if they were indeed ready for the next step. But when Hermione lifted her beautiful brown eyes to smile lovingly at him, Draco knew without doubt: This was the witch he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, their love the only magic he needed to be high of.

Nine months after that night (and seven and a half after a laughing fit of the soon-to-be father, because the magic of Beltane had apparently overcome the Muggle contraceptives Hermione insisted on using), Draco's and Harry's dream of a complete Quidditch team in the next generation came true: Scorpius Draco Malfoy entered the magical world of his parents - and of course, he'd play Seeker.

 **A/N: *ducks* yeah, I know, I'm the total sucker for sweet endings, but I simply can't help myself...**

 **Thanks to the lovely reviews to the last chapter: HarryPGinny4eva (love the voices, too! I swear I don't have a personality problem in RL...), Gimina Wow (good that you were only about to...), KnowInsight (ah, the Gryffindor tendencies in Draco are there, but not as visible, I think *smirks back*), Hanable-13 (happy day, indeed!), mega700201 (perfectly welcome!), writerspassion18 (adventurous, yeah, sounds about right ;)), Dramione shipper 17 (you so got the aspects of her personality right!claps!), Grovek26 (thank you!), pgoodrichpoggs (hope you liked more of the vibe), Jaqueline Noir (unbearable, i hope not ;)), Sam Wallflower (had sooo much fun writing the Narcissa scene, honestly!), ErikaNeubert (cool, a German name! Willkommen an Bord!), Vanessa85 (yayyy!), MrBenzedrine (you rock my review account!), BoredRavenclaw620 (thank you for the compliment!), waymay (imagining a funny wheelbarrow... LMFAO!), IrishPrincess1987 (you didn't fell off the seat, I hope;)), Guest (here's the new chapter, sorry, the last ine...), zoesheppard (totally welcome!).**


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